Dr. Daniel H. Wilson

Daniel H. Wilson, Ph.D. is a New York Times best selling author, television host, and robotics engineer. His most recent novel, published on June 7, 2011, is Robopocalypse.
 
Daniel’s first book was published during his final year of graduate school in late 2005. How to Survive A Robot Uprising won a Rave Award from Wired and was optioned by Paramount Pictures. A screenplay was written by Tom Lennon and Ben Garant, and produced by Mike DeLuca. Mike Myers was attached to star; however, the option eventually expired.
 
In 2006, he began as a columnist for Popular Mechanics magazine and is now a contributing editor, called the “Resident Roboticist”.
 
In 2007, Daniel published Where’s My Jetpack? The book was a GQ Media Pick for 2007 and Simon Reynolds of Salon.com said: “The research is top-notch and fascinating… the best material entails a sort of archeology of stillborn or prematurely abandoned futures.”
 
Later in the year, he made a two book deal with Bloomsbury Publishing Children’s division, agreeing to deliver a humorous guide to sibling rivalry in Bro-Jitsu: The Martial Art of Sibling Smackdown and then a middle reader that takes place in an abandoned robotic world, called A Boy and His Bot. In August 2007 (well before publication), Bro-Jitsu was optioned by Nickelodeon Movies (a subset of Paramount Pictures) and Daniel was hired to write the screenplay.
 
Daniel followed up How to Survive a Robot Uprising with a sequel called How to Build a Robot Army. The book was optioned by Paramount Pictures and chosen by the American Library Association (ALA) as a 2009 Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers. The New York Post called the book required reading.
 
Also in 2008, Wilson coauthored a humorous book with psychologist Anna C. Long, entitled The Mad Scientist Hall of Fame: Muwahahaha! (Citadel, 2008). In a blurb, Mike Myers, the actor of Dr. Evil fame, called it “An exhaustive study of the evil mind. A great book!”
 
In 2009, Wilson’s first short story, The Nostalgist, was published by Tor.com.
 
In November 2009, he sold his novel Robopocalypse to Doubleday, with Jason Kaufman (editor of Dan Brown, among others) coming on as editor. One day before rights to the novel were purchased, he sold film rights to DreamWorks SKG, with Steven Spielberg officially signing on to direct.
 
In October 2010, How to Survive A Robot Uprising was optioned by Steve Pink (writer of the films High Fidelity and Grosse Pointe Blank) and actor Jack Black.
 
In November 2010, Daniel sold his novel AMPED to Doubleday, again working with editor Jason Kaufman. Film rights to the novel were sold to Summit Entertainment, with Alex Proyas (Dark City; The Crow; I, Robot) attached to direct.
 
Robopocalypse was published in 2011 and the movie is slated for release in 2013.
 
Daniel hosted a series on the History Channel entitled The Works, which debuted on July 10, 2008. Ten episodes of The Works aired, in which he explained the hidden workings of everyday items, including sneakers, guns, beer, garbage, robots, skydiving, power tools, steel, motorcycles, and tattoos. He has also appeared as himself in Modern Marvels and Countdown to Doomsday.
 
Daniel earned his B.S. in Computer Science at the University of Tulsa in 2000, spending one semester studying philosophy abroad in Melbourne, Australia at the University of Melbourne. He earned a M.S. in Robotics, another M.S. in Machine Learning, and his Ph.D. in Robotics in 2005 at the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His thesis work, entitled Assistive Intelligent Environments for Automatic Health Monitoring focused on providing automatic location and activity monitoring in the home via low-cost sensors such as motion detectors and contact switches. He has worked as a research intern at Microsoft Research, the Xerox PARC, Northrop Grumman, and Intel Research Seattle.
 
Watch Daniel H Wilson, “How to Survive a Robot Uprising” – Daniel H. Wilson…, Robopocalypse – Steven Spielberg, Daniel H Wilson – Tyrone Rubin Film Show, Urban Rush – Daniel H. Wilson, Audiobook: Robopocalypse: A Novel by Daniel H. Wilson, and Robot Cars Are Coming. Listen to Daniel H. Wilson Unleashes Robopocalypse in Episode 41 of The Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy and “Where’s My Jetpack?” Looks for the Missing Future. Read Rising to the Big Screen: Daniel H. Wilson talks about Steven Spielberg, and The Big Idea: Daniel H. Wilson. Read his IMDb profile and his Wikipedia profile. Read his blog. Follow his Twitter feed.