About the Authors

About the Authors

Chuck Musciano ([e-mail]) acquired a B.S. in computer science from Georgia Tech in 1982. He spent 15 years in the employ of Harris Corporation, in Melbourne, Florida, first as a compiler writer and crafter of tools and later as a member of Harris's Advanced Technology Group. His focus on Unix- and Internetbased technology enabled him to support early web initiatives within Harris. After various positions of increasing responsibility in the IT industry, he currently serves as the Vice President of Information Services for Martin Marietta Materials in Raleigh, North Carolina. Throughout his career he has written for various trade publications , both in print and as an online columnist, including the "Webmaster" column for SunWorld and the "Tag of the Week" column for WebReview . In his spare time, he enjoys life in North Carolina with his wife Cindy, daughter Courtney, and son Cole.

Bill Kennedy ([e-mail]) is currently Chief Technology Officer for MobileRobots, Inc., a developer and manufacturer of intelligent mobile robots and other smart machines. How he came to chasing AI robots around is not surprising, given his many roundabout careers. Bill has a Ph.D. in biochemistry and biophysics from Loyola University of Chicago and did over 12 years of biomedical research through the 1970s and early '80s. Infected by the PC bug (32K Apple II; really!), he created a software company that developed computer games and educational programs. Needing a real job with benefits, Bill also served as technical editor, senior editor, and editor-in-chief for various International Data Group magazines, including inCider, Sun Technology Journal, SunWorld , and A+ Publishing/Mac Computing , among others, in the '80s and '90s. An avid user of the Internet since the mid '80s, Bill, with his wife Jeanne Dietsch, founded ActivMedia Research, the first market-research firm ever to formally study businesses on the Web. Their first report, published in 1995, contained data gathered by actually visiting each and every business web site in existence back then, if you can imagine. Always ready to embrace emerging technologies, Bill and his partners formed ActivMedia Robotics in 1996, which now, as MobileRobots Inc. (http://www.mobilerobots.com), sells more intelligent mobile platforms to more artificial and machine-intelligent researchers around the world than anyone else. And the company's mobile- robotics navigation technologies are quickly being adopted for commercial and industrial applications. So, what's next ?