PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Charlie Kemp

Also known as Charles C. Kemp

Charlie Kemp is a roboticist who connects artificial intelligence with mobile manipulators for physical assistance. He earned a BS in computer science and engineering in 1997, an MEng in electrical engineering and computer science in 1998, and a PhD in that field in 2005; his work with Aaron Edsinger on Domo won a 2006 conference best paper award. He joined Georgia Tech in 2006, founded the Healthcare Robotics Lab in 2007, and later studied assistive tasks through Robots for Humanity and a PR2 dressing system. He co-founded Hello Robot in 2017, revealed Stretch in 2020, and coauthored its design paper; as of October 2026, he is the company’s CTO, building mobile manipulators for homes and workplaces.

Now at
Hello Robot
Badges

Timeline

  1. 1997–2005

    MIT degrees and AI

    At MIT, his undergraduate interest in AI leads him to robotics. He earns a BS in computer science and engineering in 1997, an MEng in electrical engineering and computer science in 1998, and a PhD in that field in 2005, with Rod Brooks as his PhD advisor.

  2. 2006

    Domo and a paper award

    At MIT, he works with Aaron Edsinger on Domo, a humanoid robot that helps a person place objects on a shelf. They win the IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robotics best paper award in 2006.

  3. 2006–2011

    A lab for physical assistance

    He joins Georgia Tech in 2006 to develop robots for intelligent physical assistance, and he founds the Healthcare Robotics Lab in 2007. In 2011, the lab and Willow Garage collaborate on Robots for Humanity, where Henry Evans controls a PR2 through a custom interface to shave and perform household tasks. Kemp is an assistant professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University, researching autonomous robot manipulation and human-robot interaction.

  4. 2017

    Co-founding Hello Robot

    In 2017, he co-founds Hello Robot with Aaron Edsinger to create a commercial robot inspired by his lab’s invention.

  5. 2018

    PR2 learns robotic dressing

    In 2018, a Georgia Tech PR2 learns to slide a hospital gown onto a person’s arm after analyzing nearly 11,000 simulated examples. Its neural network predicts the forces a motion will apply, and Kemp serves as the team’s lead faculty member.

  6. 2020

    Revealing the Stretch robot

    In July 2020, Hello Robot reveals Stretch, a compact, lightweight, force-sensitive mobile manipulator inspired by Kemp’s lab research. The robot weighs 23 kilograms and fits in a 34-centimeter-square footprint.

  7. 2021–2022

    The Design of Stretch

    Charles C. Kemp and coauthors post “The Design of Stretch” on arXiv in 2021; ICRA publishes the paper in 2022. They describe a compact mobile manipulator for indoor human environments and report teleoperating and autonomously controlling Stretch RE1 in real homes.

  8. As of October 2026

    Hello Robot CTO

    In September 2023, he relinquishes tenure at Georgia Tech, closes his lab, and starts working full-time at Hello Robot. As of October 2026, he is the company’s cofounder and chief technology officer, developing mobile manipulators to help people in homes and workplaces.

Career

  1. Since 2017Hello RobotCo-founder, Chief technology officer
  2. From 2007Georgia Institute of TechnologyFounder
  3. From 2006Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory UniversityAssistant Professor
  4. 2006Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Education

  1. Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyBS

From the biography.

  1. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes Charlie Kemp. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.
  2. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes Massachusetts Institute of Technology. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.
  3. Google had the most people shaping AI every year from 2014 to 2025Includes Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Our estimates of which organizations employed the most people shaping AI each year from 1955 to 2025, tracing the shift from university labs to companies.
  4. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes Massachusetts Institute of Technology. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Charlie Kemp yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Charlie Kemp - View Profile & Connect | Georgia Tech College of Engineering expertfile.com. Checked 22 October 2026.
  2. Charlie Kemp – Charles C. Kemp's personal website charliekemp.com. Checked 22 October 2026.
  3. A Day in the Life of a Roboticist: Charlie Kemp robotsguide.com. Checked 22 October 2026.
  4. Robots For Humanity Aids Quadriplegics coe.gatech.edu. Checked 22 October 2026.
  5. Robot Teaches Itself How to Dress People news.gatech.edu. Checked 22 October 2026.
  6. Ex-Googler's Startup Comes Out of Stealth With Beautifully Simple, Clever Robot Design spectrum.ieee.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  7. The Design of Stretch: A Compact, Lightweight Mobile Manipulator for Indoor Human Environments arxiv.org. Checked 22 October 2026.