Seth Hutchinson

Research interests

• Robotics

Education

• PhD in Electrical Engineering, Purdue University,
• MS in Electrical Engineering, Purdue University
• BS in Electrical Engineering, Purdue University

Biography

Seth Hutchinson is a professor in the Khoury College of Computer Sciences at Northeastern University, based in Boston. He is jointly appointed with the College of Engineering.

Hutchinson began publishing robotics research while pursuing his PhD in electrical engineering at Purdue University in 1986 and he hasn’t stopped since, with his name appearing on more than 300 publications related to planning, sensing, and control in robotics. He joined Khoury College in 2025 after 28 years at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and seven at Georgia Tech, where he served as the executive director of the Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Machines.

Hutchinson’s work is motivated by a desire to make robots smarter and more capable. Specifically, his research has delved into physical human–robot interaction, motion planning, vision-based control, planning under uncertainty, pursuit and evasion, localization and mapping, locomotion, and bio-inspired robotics. Hutchinson previously served as president of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society, editor-in-chief of IEEE Transactions on Robotics, and founding editor-in-chief of the RAS Conference Editorial Board. At Khoury College, he works with the Institute for Experiential Robotics.

In his free time, Hutchinson enjoys playing the electric bass and welcomes invitations to play with local rock and roll bands.

Labs and groups

• Institute for Experiential Robotics

Recent publications