PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Ronald C. Arkin

Also known as Ron Arkin

Ronald C. Arkin is a roboticist whose work spans behavior-based robot navigation and robot ethics. He earned degrees at the University of Michigan, Stevens Institute of Technology, and the University of Massachusetts; he joined Georgia Tech in 1987 and published motor-schema navigation research in 1989. He published the 1998 textbook Behavior-Based Robotics, worked on ethical constraints for autonomous weapons, and became an IEEE Fellow in 2003. As of October 2026, he is Regents' Professor Emeritus and directs Georgia Tech's Mobile Robot Laboratory, with recent work on ethical decision-making in lethal autonomous weapon systems.

Works
320
Citations
14,456
h-index
52

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 15 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 1971–1987

    Degrees from three universities

    He earns a B.S. at the University of Michigan in 1971, an M.S. at Stevens Institute of Technology in 1977, and a Ph.D. at the University of Massachusetts in 1987.

  2. 1987–1989

    Motor-schema navigation

    He joins Georgia Tech's College of Computing as an assistant professor in 1987. In 1989, he publishes Motor Schema-Based Mobile Robot Navigation, describing motor schemas as concurrent processes that run independently.

  3. 1998

    Behavior-Based Robotics

    In 1998, he publishes Behavior-Based Robotics, a textbook issued by MIT Press.

  4. 2003

    An IEEE Fellowship

    IEEE elects him a Fellow in 2003.

  5. 2004–2009

    Robot ethics and autonomous weapons

    He co-chairs IEEE RAS's Technical Committee on Robot Ethics from 2004 to 2009. His Georgia Tech research explores ethical limits for lethal action by weaponized robots. In 2009, he publishes Governing Lethal Behavior in Autonomous Robots.

  6. 2008–2017

    Associate dean at Georgia Tech

    He serves as Associate Dean for Research and Space Planning in Georgia Tech's College of Computing from October 2008 to June 2017.

  7. 2017–2018

    A visiting post in Australia

    From July 2017 to June 2018, he serves as a visiting Fellow/Scientist at Queensland University of Technology and CSIRO's Robotics and Autonomous Systems Group.

  8. As of October 2026

    Emeritus professor and lab director

    He is Regents' Professor Emeritus in Georgia Tech's School of Interactive Computing and directs the Mobile Robot Laboratory. In 2026, he coauthors a conference framework for benchmarking ethical decision-making in lethal autonomous weapons systems.

Sources and credits

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  1. Emeritus Faculty | Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty faculty.gatech.edu. Checked 15 October 2026.
  2. Ronald Arkin's Vita cc.gatech.edu. Checked 15 October 2026.
  3. Georgia Tech Mobile Robot Lab sites.cc.gatech.edu. Checked 15 October 2026.
  4. Interview with Ronald Arkin - Robotics History Project roboticshistory.ieee-ras.org. Checked 15 October 2026.
  5. Ronald Arkin cc.gatech.edu. Checked 15 October 2026.
  6. Oral-History:Ronald Arkin - Engineering and Technology History Wiki ethw.org. Checked 15 October 2026.
  7. GT-MRL ARO Robot Ethics Project sites.cc.gatech.edu. Checked 15 October 2026.
  8. People By Research Areas | Research Community people.research.gatech.edu. Checked 15 October 2026.