Obituary: Arthur C. Sanderson Helped Found Robotics Institute

Matthew WeinFriday, February 6, 2026

Arthur C. Sanderson, one of the founding co-directors of the Robotics Institute, died in December at his home in Florida. He was 79.

Arthur C. Sanderson, who served as one of the founding co-directors of Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute, died in December at his home in Florida. He was 79.

Sanderson became a member of the CMU faculty in 1973 after earning his Ph.D. from the university's College of Engineering, where he went on to direct the Flexible Assembly Lab. In 1979, he joined Raj Reddy and College of Engineering Dean Angel Jordan as an early leader of the nascent Robotics Institute.

"Our little team, with Art leading it, tackled all kinds of problems of extraordinary breadth and did really great work," said Kevin Dowling (MCS 1984, SCS 1997), who worked in Sanderson's lab, first as a CMU undergraduate and later as a staff member. "He left it to us to do research and he never micromanaged. I was a little intimidated as a young undergrad, but it was a really nice and comfortable atmosphere. I had a lot of fun working for Art."

Sanderson left CMU in 1987 to join the faculty at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he led the Electrical, Computer and Systems Engineering Department. In 1989, Sanderson helped establish the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society and served as its founding president. He was a fellow of IEEE and received its Millennium Medal.

He went on to serve as division director for electrical and communications systems research at the National Science Foundation before returning to Rensselaer as the vice president for research. He also served in the U.S. Department of State where, as a Jefferson Science Fellow, he conducted assessments and forecasts of scientific and technological developments related to international arms control.

Sanderson's work on sensor-based robotic control, planning and reasoning for intelligent systems, distributed sensor networks, and neural networks contributed to advancements in artificial intelligence and autonomous vehicles, particularly in underwater spaces.

"He always struck me as a really good person, and I came to find out he was much more than that," Dowling said. "We stayed in touch. I learned so much from Art that led to so many things later in life."

Sanderson is survived by his wife, Susan R. Sanderson, two children and four grandchildren.

For More Information

Aaron Aupperlee | 412-268-9068 | aaupperlee@cmu.edu