Robin Murphy

Robin Roberson Murphy is an American computer scientist and roboticist. She is the Raytheon Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at Texas A&M University. She is known as a founder of the fields of rescue robotics and human-robot interaction and for inserting robots into disasters. Her case studies of how unmanned systems under perform in the field led cognitive systems engineering researcher David Woods to pose the (Robin) Murphy's Law of Autonomy: a deployment of robotic systems will fall short of the target level of autonomy, creating or exacerbating a shortfall in mechanisms for coordination with human problem holders. Her TED talk “These Robots Come to the Rescue After a Disaster” was listed in TED Talks: The Official TED Guide to Public Speaking as one of the examples of a good TED talk. Murphy is also known for using science fiction as an innovative method of teaching artificial intelligence and robotics.