Mark Tilden

Timeline

1. 1994

   BEAM robots at Los Alamos

   In 1994, he works at Los Alamos National Laboratory and builds simple machines that run continuously. His BEAM approach pairs bio-inspired movement with simple analog circuits and a few transistors.

2. 2000

   A reactive maze-solving paper

   In 2000, he coauthors “Reactive Maze Solving with a Biologically-Inspired Wind Sensor” with Tim Chapman and Adam Hayes for From Animals to Animats 6, the proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Simulation of Adaptive Behavior.

3. 2000

   Moving to Hong Kong

   In 2000, he moves to Hong Kong after an invitation from the owner of a toy trading company.

4. 2002–2003

   B.I.O.-Bugs at WowWee

   In 2002, he leads research at the WowWee Toys division of Hasbro in Hong Kong and creates B.I.O.-Bugs. By 2003, the biomorphic robots use transistors and analog patterns, and learn and alter their behavior as they interact with each other and the environment.

5. By 2004

   A degree and Mars robots

   Born in Stroud, Gloucestershire, he moves to Canada at age two. By 2004, he has a master's degree in engineering and has worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory, NASA, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He spends ten years at NASA trying to build robots to explore Mars; the work is rejected.

6. 2004

   Launching RoboSapien

   In 2004, he designs and releases RoboSapien, a toy-like robot with preprogrammed moves and an infrared remote control. By December 2004, sales exceed 1.5 million units worldwide.

7. December 2024

   A lab in rural Ontario

   In December 2024, he is back in rural Ontario with a new robotics lab. He is building tools and testing ideas for useful robot assistants.