Helen Greiner

Timeline

1. 1967–1990

   From London to MIT's AI Lab

   Born in London in 1967, she moves to the United States at age five and sets her sights on robots after seeing Star Wars in 1977. At MIT, she works in the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory headed by Rodney Brooks and interns at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, helping design robots that could make repairs in space. She earns a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering in 1989 and a master's in computer science in 1990.

2. 1990–1999

   Co-founding IS Robotics

   In 1990, she founds IS Robotics, later called iRobot, with Colin Angle and Rodney Brooks, financing it with bank loans and credit cards while building robots for university researchers. As its president and head of research, she oversees robots for DARPA and the Office of Naval Research that detect mines and retrieve unexploded bombs, and MIT Technology Review names her to its TR100 list of young innovators in 1999.

3. 2002–2005

   Roomba, PackBot and an IPO

   She leads the design team for the Roomba, introduced in 2002, and creates iRobot's Government and Industrial Robots division, whose PackBots search for enemy combatants and booby traps in Afghanistan and Iraq. After serving as president until 2004, she leads iRobot through its initial public offering in 2005.

4. 2008

   Founding CyPhy Works

   She resigns as iRobot's chairman in October 2008 and founds CyPhy Works, a drone company, in 2008.

5. 2012–2014

   Tethered drones and the NAE

   In December 2012, CyPhy Works unveils EASE and PARC, hovering reconnaissance drones that receive power and instructions through a microfilament line. In 2013, she is elected to the National Academy of Engineering for leadership in the design, development and application of practical robots, and in 2014 President Obama names her a Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship.

6. 2017–2020

   Robotics adviser to the Army

   She leaves CyPhy Works in 2017. In June 2018, she is sworn in as a highly qualified expert for robotics, autonomous systems and AI for the US Army, working in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology.

7. 2020–2023

   CEO of Tertill

   In September 2020, Boston-based Tertill appoints her CEO and chairman; its solar-powered weeding robot launched as a Kickstarter project in 2017. The Boston Globe ranks her 34th on its 2022 Tech Power Players list for leadership in robotics, artificial intelligence and startups. When Tertill merges with the agricultural robotics company Harvest Automation in June 2023, she remains a board member and special advisor.

8. Since June 2024

   Advising PteroDynamics

   In June 2024, PteroDynamics, a Colorado Springs maker of autonomous vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, names her a strategic advisor to help scale its Transwing VTOL system for defense and commercial operators. In December 2025, after iRobot files for bankruptcy, she says its restructuring plan under a Chinese owner isn't good for "consumers, employees, stockholders, Massachusetts or the USA."