This talk will provide an overview of the broadening role of robotics in the new future of space exploration, and MDA's role in that future. The broad applications for robotics and robotics-related technologies will be described, and some examples will be described, including robotic systems for orbital rendezvous and assembly, robotic instruments and sensors, and robotic systems for planetary surface exploration. We will review is some detail the Hubble robotic servicing mission, and videos showing robots actually performing the servicing operations on a Hubble mockup will be shown.

Dr. Paul Cooper is Vice President and Deputy General Manager at MDA, Canada's largest space company, where he heads the Toronto-based operations of MDA Space Missions. In this role, Dr. Cooper has overall responsibility for the company's space robotics business, including over 700 employees in 5 locations. Prior to joining MDA, Dr. Cooper was CEO and co-founder of Perceptual Robotics, Inc., the Chicago company that created the webcam. Earlier, he was a professor of computer science at Northwestern University. Dr. Cooper's business experience includes strategic leadership, business development, product management, and R&D. His technical background includes autonomous robotics and AI, computer vision, and internet software; Dr. Cooper is an author or contributor to numerous patents and research papers. He holds Bachelor's degrees in both Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of British Columbia, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Rochester.