# David Mindell

> David A. Mindell is an MIT professor, engineer, historian, author, and investor whose work connects robotics with the people who design and operate them. He co-founded Humatics in 2015 and is its executive chairman, and co-founded the industrial investment firm Unless. His career includes more than 25 oceanographic expeditions, precision-navigation inventions, books on Apollo and automation, and co-leadership of MIT’s Task Force on the Work of the Future.

- **Role:** Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics and Frances and David Dibner Professor of the History of Engineering and Manufacturing at MIT; Co-founder and Executive Chairman at Humatics; Co-founder at Unless
- **Organizations:** Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Humatics Corporation, Unless, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, MIT Task Force on the Work of the Future
- **Education:** BS in Electrical Engineering and BA in Literature, Yale University, PhD in History of Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- **Known for:** Led or contributed to more than 25 oceanographic expeditions., Inventor on 34 patents involving precision navigation, autonomous systems, and human-robotic collaboration, as reported by MIT., Co-founded Humatics, applying precision navigation to industrial human-machine collaboration.

## Career timeline

- **1988** — Sought work at the Deep Submergence Laboratory in Woods Hole after studying electrical engineering and literature at Yale.
- **1995** — Completed his PhD in history of technology at MIT.
- **1996** — Began his MIT faculty career, according to his public LinkedIn experience.
- **1997** — Co-principal investigator on a Mediterranean expedition that discovered eight ancient shipwrecks.
- **2001** — His book War, Technology, and Experience aboard the USS Monitor won the Sally Hacker Prize.
- **2005-2011** — Directed MIT’s Program in Science, Technology, and Society.
- **2008** — Published Digital Apollo: Human and Machine in Spaceflight.
- **2015** — Co-founded Humatics and published Our Robots, Ourselves.
- **2018** — Co-chaired MIT’s Task Force on the Work of the Future.
- **2021** — Moved from Humatics CEO to executive chairman, according to his public LinkedIn experience.
- **2022** — Co-authored The Work of the Future with David Autor and Elisabeth B. Reynolds; his public LinkedIn lists his Unless co-founder role from this year.
- **2025** — Published The New Lunar Society: An Enlightenment Guide to the Next Industrial Revolution.
- **2026** — His MIT aerospace entrepreneurship class produced a 100-page industry report.

## Achievements

- Led or contributed to more than 25 oceanographic expeditions.
- Inventor on 34 patents involving precision navigation, autonomous systems, and human-robotic collaboration, as reported by MIT.
- Co-founded Humatics, applying precision navigation to industrial human-machine collaboration.
- Sally Hacker Prize, 2001, for War, Technology, and Experience aboard the USS Monitor.
- Co-authored The Work of the Future, winner of the 2025 MIT Press Faculty Book Award.
- Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics; Senior Member of IEEE.

## Latest updates

- **2026-10** — MIT reported that his aerospace entrepreneurship students completed a 100-page report after more than 50 interviews with industry participants.
- **2026-06** — Appeared on Brad Porter’s Deployed podcast to discuss bringing robotics into industrial use.
- **2026-04** — Emceed MIT AeroAstro’s sixth annual SpaceTech conference on the space innovation ecosystem.
- **2025-02** — Published The New Lunar Society: An Enlightenment Guide to the Next Industrial Revolution.

## Links

- Website: https://sts-program.mit.edu/people/sts-faculty/david-a-mindell/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-mindell-09025a23/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/david-mindell
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-11