IEEE Awards Booklet - 2012 - 14

I E E E

M E D A L S

2012 IEEE
Simon Ramo Medal

2012 IEEE
John von Neumann Medal

Sponsored by Northrop Grumman Corporation

Sponsored by IBM Corporation

William Whittaker

Edward J. McCluskey

For pioneering contributions to mobile autonomous
robotics, field applications of robotics, and systems
engineering

For fundamental contributions that shaped the design and
testing of digital systems.

Considered the "father" of field robotics, William Whittaker
propelled robots from research curiosities mostly found bolted
to factory floors or relegated to laboratories to mobile, autonomous units capable of working outdoors in harsh and challenging
environments. He pioneered the locomotion technologies, navigation and route-planning methods, and advanced sensing
systems that make these robots successful. After the nuclear
reactor meltdown at Three Mile Island in 1979, Dr. Whittaker
and his team developed robots to inspect and clean the
damaged reactor's basement. He overcame challenges including
the extreme environment and the high level of reliability needed
due to the inability to introduce human assistance if maintenance was needed. This work led to the formation of the Field
Robotics Center at Carnegie Mellon (the first research center
dedicated to field robotics). Other innovations from Dr.
Whittaker include a walking robot that explored an active
volcano and robots that searched for meteorites in Antarctica
and surveyed an 1,800-acre area of Nevada for buried hazards.
He developed self-guided trucks and underground machines
that operate autonomously without communication or GPS. He
led teams that developed self-driving cars that achieve high
speed and comply with traffic laws, including a vehicle that won
the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Urban
Challenge race in 2007. He is currently developing a lander/
rover in pursuit of the Google X Prize for the first commercially
funded venture to put a robot on the moon.

Edward J. McCluskey provided the foundation for the design
automation methods that make production of today's complex
computer chips possible. Credited with helping bridge the gap
between computer science and electrical engineering to
establish computer engineering as a discipline of its own, Dr.
McCluskey has contributed techniques and concepts essential
to computer design, testing, and reliability for over 50 years. He
developed the Quine-McCluskey algorithm as the first systematic method to create a minimized two-level logic representation
of a digital circuit. Computer scientists and engineers learn this
algorithm as the foundation for logic optimization. It continues
to be used in numerous design automation tools and has influenced practically all digital chips in use today. Dr. McCluskey
also developed the modern theory of hazards in logic networks
and formulated the operating modes of sequential circuits,
which defined techniques for designing high-speed circuits. Dr.
McCluskey was also an early pioneer of digital testing methods,
and his vision continues to impact the field. He demonstrated
that test metrics rather than fault models were the key to
obtaining high test quality, which helped change the way digital
testing is conducted. He formulated the concept of algebraic
properties of fault models and developed methods using the
concept to reduce test sets. This work has been incorporated
into today's automatic test pattern generation and fault simulation tools. Dr. McCluskey also developed very low-voltage
testing as a cost-effective alternative to burn-in methods for
detecting weak chips. Dr. McCluskey has also made important
contributions to fault-tolerant computing for applications where
failure is not an option.

An IEEE Member, Dr. Whittaker is currently a University Professor
with Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute, Pittsburgh,
Pa.

An IEEE Life Fellow, Dr. McCluskey is Professor Emeritus of the
departments of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at
Stanford University, Calif.

Scope: For exceptional achievement in systems engineering and
systems science

Scope: For outstanding achievements in computer-related
science and technology

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Awards Booklet - 2012