Teradyne Robotics Welcomes James Davidson as Chief AI Officer

(US and Canada) Teradyne Robotics, which includes collaborative robot (cobot) company Universal Robots (UR) and autonomous mobile robot (AMR) company MiR, has announced the appointment of James Davidson as the Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer (CAIO).

"James' exceptional track record in AI and robotics aligns perfectly with Teradyne Robotics' mission to revolutionize manufacturing through innovative automation solutions," says Ujjwal Kumar, Group President of Teradyne Robotics. "We are excited to welcome him to our team and are confident that his leadership will drive significant advancements in our AI capabilities."

Davidson's career spans over 20 years and integrates deep expertise in AI and robotics. Initially focused on satellite technologies at Sandia National Laboratories, he soon shifted to robotics, fueling his passion for the field through doctoral work in reinforcement learning at the University of Illinois. He has held lead research roles at Google Brain/DeepMind and MITRE, where he contributed extensively to both academic research and commercial products.

Later, Davidson embraced entrepreneurship, steering Talos Robotics as CEO and shaping the technological vision of Third Wave Automation as CTO. Most recently, as Chief Architect at Mobile Industrial Robots (MiR), he guided its technical direction and ramped up AI solutions for its new product, the MiR1200 Pallet Jack. His broad application of AI spans diverse projects, from implementing Google's pioneering AI-generated ads and developing healthcare fraud detection systems at MITRE to advancing robotics in various forms, including forklifts and manipulators.