Rod Brooks
Heartland Robotics was founded in 2008 by Rodney Brooks, a co-founder of iRobot and former Director of MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. The company's mission is to bring to market a new generation of robots to improve productivity in manufacturing environments. Heartland's goal is to introduce robots into places that have not been automated before, making manufacturers more efficient, their workers more productive and keeping jobs from migrating to low-cost regions.
Heartland's management team is comprised of professionals skilled in robotics, artificial intelligence, software development and systems engineering, complemented by business managers with a track record of growing startups into billion-dollar businesses.
The team includes:
Rodney Brooks - Founder, Chairman and CTO
Formerly Panasonic Professor of Robotics at MIT and Director, MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Rodney is also a founder of iRobot, inventor of the commercially successful Roomba as well as other robots marketed to industry and the military. Find out more about Rodney here.
Scott Eckert - President and CEO
A seasoned manager with experience in building high-growth businesses, Scott was Co-Founder, President and CEO of Motion Computing, the leading provider of tablet PCs for vertical markets. Prior to Motion Computing, Scott was an executive at Dell, Inc. and widely known as the chief architect and general manager of that company's worldwide Internet strategy. Scott was also managing director for Dell's Home and Small Business Division in the UK and Ireland, one of Dell's largest international business units.
Elaine Chen - VP Product Development
Elaine is a product development executive who has brought many new hardware and software products to market in startup environments. Prior to joining Heartland Robotics, Elaine served as VP Engineering and Product Development at Zeo, Inc., a startup in the consumer health and wellness space. She has also served as VP Product Management at Zeemote, Inc. and as VP Engineering at SensAble Technologies. Elaine holds a BSME and MSME from MIT.
An operations leader with a successful track record launching and ramping innovative new products, Jim was previously VP of Operations at consumer startups Zeemote and Tea Forte, Director of Manufacturing Operations for Handspring (acquired by Palm), and Manufacturing Director of Solectron's Complex Systems Division. Jim earned a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and an MBA from Santa Clara University.
Alex Goodwin - Director, Product Management
Alex is a senior manager experienced with bringing breakthrough technologies to market within a startup environment. He successfully led product management and development at Brontes Technologies, a 3M Company, and SensAble Technologies. Alex holds an MBA from Harvard and a Mechanical Engineering degree from MIT.
Ann Whittaker - VP Administration and HR, Co-Founder
Ann's experience includes various management roles at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, the David Rockefeller Jr. Family Office, Millennium Pharma and PAREXEL International.
Heartland is fortunate to be backed by world-class investors:
Bezos Expeditions (the personal investment company of Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon)
Charles River Ventures
Highland Capital Partners
Sigma Partners