Robin Roberson Murphy is an American computer scientist and roboticist. She is the Raytheon Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at Texas A&M University. She is known as a founder of the fields of rescue robotics and human-robot interaction and for inserting robots into disasters. Her case studies of how unmanned systems under perform in the field led cognitive systems engineering researcher David Woods to pose the (Robin) Murphy's Law of Autonomy: a deployment of robotic systems will fall short of the target level of autonomy, creating or exacerbating a shortfall in mechanisms for coordination with human problem holders. Her TED talk "These Robots Come to the Rescue After a Disaster" was listed in TED Talks: The Official TED Guide to Public Speaking as one of the examples of a good TED talk. Murphy is also known for using science fiction as an innovative method of teaching artificial intelligence and robotics.
Murphy's book, Artificial Intelligence and Mobile Robotics: Case Studies of Successful Systems was cited by Michael Crichton in Prey.
She inspired the character of Jae, a rescue roboticist who worked at Disaster City, in Skinner, a science fiction book by Charlie Huston.
Murphy has edited a book, Robotics Through Science Fiction: Artificial Intelligence Explained Through Six Classic Robot Short Stories by Isaac Asimov, Brian Aldiss, Vernor Vinge, and Philip K. Dick, to illustrate key principles in programming artificial intelligence for robotics. The book was originally intended as a companion to the second edition of her textbook Introduction to AI Robotics but it serves as a stand-alone book for a non-technical audience.
Since 2018, she writes monthly 'science fiction science fact' focus articles for Science Robotics analyzing the realism of robots in the media including Star Wars and Westworld.
Her blog Robotics Through Science Fiction discusses the scientific accuracy of books and movies.
Murphy was raised in Douglas, Georgia.
