ClaimsPeople

Rodney Brooks

Rodney Brooks is a roboticist, MIT professor emeritus, and co-founder of iRobot, Rethink Robotics and Robust.AI.

1,166 claims collected, 291 researched, 88 resolved. Report of 5 November 2026, method 0.1.0+c876030c.

Scores by kind of claim

Each kind of claim is scored on its own, out of 100: the share that held up, with the range it likely falls in. Fewer resolved claims give a wider range.

  • Factual claims

    Statements about the present or the past, checked against the record: did they hold up?

    83 77 88

    High confidence, 79 factual claims resolved. From 17 documents, 2014 to 2026; 19 documents sampled from 35 candidates found.

    Not scored: 31 unresolvable, 17 checkable only against their own records.

  • Predictions

    Statements about events outside the person's control, checked once they fell due: did they come true?

    67 49 83

    Low confidence, 8 predictions resolved. From 6 documents, 2018 to 2026; 19 documents sampled from 35 candidates found.

    Not scored: 91 unresolvable. 60 more fall due later.

    Does not yet allow for how likely each prediction was when made.

  • Promises

    Commitments to the person's or organisation's own future action, with something to deliver: was it delivered?

    Insufficient record: 1 promise resolved, 5 needed for a score.

    Not scored: 3 not yet due.

All types combined: 81 (likely 76 to 86, high confidence), from 87 claims: 79 factual claims, 8 predictions. It mixes kinds of claim in different proportions for different people, so compare people kind by kind.

Rodney Brooks's claims

17 claims

17 claims, sorted by newest said. Choose a claim to read it in full.
VerdictKindSaidClaimTopic
Own records only Factual 1 Jan 2026 With about 7,000 dark signals and perhaps 1,000 vehicles on the road, Waymo did not have enough human staff to handle the volume of assistance requests during its outage. Factual · 1 Jan 2026 Technology
Own records only Factual 1 Jan 2025 Brooks has only ever seen a Waymo reverse when he was driving the wrong way down a single-lane street and the two vehicles were heading at each other. Factual · 1 Jan 2025 AI capabilities
Own records only Factual 29 Sep 2024 Robust AI uses data collected from its deployed robots to feed learning algorithms. Factual · 29 Sep 2024 AI compute, hardware and data
Own records only Factual 29 Sep 2024 iRobot obtained supply chain economies of scale at millions of units that it did not have at tens of thousands. Factual · 29 Sep 2024 Economics and markets
Own records only Factual 1 Jan 2024 Brooks took almost forty rides in Cruise vehicles in San Francisco in 2023 under the company's rider programs. Factual · 1 Jan 2024 Their own work or organisation
Own records only Factual 1 Jan 2024 Driverless Cruise and Waymo vehicles in San Francisco repeatedly did foolish things on the road that Brooks saw every day in 2023. Factual · 1 Jan 2024 AI capabilities
Own records only Factual 21 Oct 2023 As of October 2023 Rodney Brooks regularly rides in Cruise autonomous vehicles in San Francisco, more than once a week. Factual · 21 Oct 2023 Their own work or organisation
Own records only Factual 22 Jun 2023 A Waymo commercial was being filmed across the street from a pickup location in San Francisco in June 2023. Factual · 22 Jun 2023 Technology
Own records only Factual 7 Jun 2023 On Cruise rides in San Francisco, the car made left turns at speed with traffic that had close calls with parked cars. Factual · 7 Jun 2023 Technology
Own records only Factual 28 May 2023 Brooks said that it did not annoy any human drivers. Factual · 28 May 2023 Technology
Own records only Factual 1 Jan 2023 In Brooks's ride in a Cruise driverless vehicle, it worked functionally but drove slowly and avoided any signs of congestion. Factual · 1 Jan 2023 Technology
Own records only Factual 1 Jan 2023 Brooks's Cruise driverless ride was slower by a factor of two than any human operated ride hailing service. Factual · 1 Jan 2023 Technology
Own records only Factual 16 Dec 2014 Brooks has recently learned JavaScript. Factual · 16 Dec 2014 Their own work or organisation
Own records only Factual 16 Dec 2014 Brooks no longer touches the product directly but takes part in prototyping that he shows to the engineers. Factual · 16 Dec 2014 Their own work or organisation
Own records only Factual 16 Dec 2014 Rethink Robotics does not have all of those disciplines (neurobiology, ethology, psychophysics, sociology) but bases its work on user experience. Factual · 16 Dec 2014 Their own work or organisation
Own records only Factual 16 Dec 2014 Baxter uses some parts of Brooks's earlier research work, but less intensively than research laboratories do. Factual · 16 Dec 2014 Their own work or organisation
Own records only Factual 16 Dec 2014 Many Rethink Robotics factory customers use low-cost 3D printers to print new grippers to replace Baxter's original hands. Factual · 16 Dec 2014 Technology
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Factual Technology

“With 7,000 dark signals and perhaps a 1,000 vehicles on the road, Waymo clearly did not have enough humans on duty to handle the volume of requests that were coming in.”

Rodney Brooks, blogger 1 January 2026 Predictions Scorecard, 2026 January 01 (rodneybrooks.com)

With about 7,000 dark signals and perhaps 1,000 vehicles on the road, Waymo did not have enough human staff to handle the volume of assistance requests during its outage.

Own records only Only the person's or their organisation's own records speak to it, so it is not scored.

Reasoning

Waymo's staffing capacity for assistance requests is internal, though outage figures may be reported.

Cite this claim

Rodney Brooks, “With about 7,000 dark signals and perhaps 1,000 vehicles on the road, Waymo did not have enough human staff to handle the volume of assistance requests during its outage.” (said 1 January 2026). Verdict: own records only. Reliability API, claim c_28eb547f6e7c, method 0.1.0+c876030c. https://epistacklabs.com/claims/c_28eb547f6e7c

Claims without a verdict

Is a verdict here wrong, or do you speak for Rodney Brooks? Reply on the claim's own page, with the form at its foot (how replies work). Verdicts are made automatically; how verdicts and scores are made.