STANFORD UNIVERSITY

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Sep 10, 2013 ... STANFORD UNIVERSITY. STANFORD, CALIFORNIA 94305-9025. OUSSAMA KHATIB. PROFESSOR. Tel. (650)723-9753. ROBOTICS ...
STANFORD UNIVERSITY S TANFORD , C ALIFORNIA 94305-9025 O USSAMA K HATIB P ROFESSOR R OBOTICS L ABORATORY D EPARTMENT OF C OMPUTER S CIENCE

Tel. (650)723-9753 Fax. (650)725-1449

[email protected]

September 10, 2013 Dear Friends, On behalf of the International Foundation of Robotics Research, IFRR, I’m writing to express our deepest sympathy and heartfelt condolences to Irene and family over the sad news of the passing of Ray. In our community, Ray was among that small group of pioneers and visionaries, who 30 years ago contributed to the launching of a research foundation dedicated to the development of robotics as scientific field for the benefit of humans. Together with his colleagues in Japan, Europe, and North America, Ray was actively engaged in the effort of IFRR during those very early years of the field of robotics. Ray’s journey in robotics, which started much earlier, in the late sixties, brought him a remarkably rich research portfolio. From his early work on perception and geometry to his fundamental research on grid based methods for robot path planning, Ray’s contributions were influential in the field. His extensive work on range based sensing and perception, pursued at a very early stage, made a significant impact and inspired many subsequent developments in that area. Ray was a strong promoter of applying methods to real-systems. Anyone who visited Ray’s laboratory at Monash, would have seen his “robot farm” and his extensive collection of robot systems. Ray was not only a great researcher but also a fantastic engineer. Ray in many respects brought robotics to Australia. He was a strong community builder, who helped not only to develop the robotics community in Australia and Asia, but also to foster our community across the world. He was, from the start, one of the key researchers diligently engaged with the international robotics community. Ray, with Alex Zelinsky, organized the new millennium edition of the International Symposium of Robotics Research, ISRR. Hosted in Lorne with Ray’s very personal touch and friendly style, this meeting came to be a memorable event for IFRR’s flagship symposium. Ray was an exceptional researcher, an inspiring pioneer, and a great friend to many of us. He will be sorely missed. Sincerely,

Oussama Khatib, Professor IFRR President