rbgorbet@uwaterloo.ca
519-888-4567, ext. 43489
EV1 203
Formally trained as an electrical engineer, Rob is an interdisciplinarian, a mechatronics specialist, an award-winning teacher and a technology artist. He loves words, art, design, teaching, travel, squash, and his friends and family.
Rob’s teaching includes courses on the profession of engineering, microcontrollers, robotics, control systems, and technology art. His engineering research involves the design of actuators made of Shape Memory Alloys (SMA), for everything from car door locks to subtle next-generation actuation systems for responsive architectural environments.
Rob is a key member of Gorbet Design, a design firm and consultancy specializing in public interactive artwork and experiences, and also collaborates with other designers, artists, and architects. Gorbet’s collaborative interactive artworks have been exhibited across Europe and North America and have won several awards, including the international FEIDAD and VIDA 11.0 first prize, and being selected to represent Canada at the 2010 Venice Architecture Biennale. They have been featured in major print and online media, and on the Discovery Channel’s Daily Planet.
Rob teaches INTEG 320 & 321, The Museum Course: Research & Design, and Practicum & Presentation. He also teaches INTEG 375, Special Topics in Knowledge Integration: Technology Art Studio, an upper-year elective course in which interdisciplinary teams of students collaborate to create and exhibit works of technology-mediated sculpture.
Read about Rob's recent collaborations. Watch a video interview with Rob done for Creativity Matters, Atlantic Centre for Creativity Online Journal.