Seth Teller (1964-2014)

Seth was my top PhD student. He was the only one among 27 students, whom I had the pleasure to advise, who chose and defined the topic and scope of his dissertation on his own. After he had spent a summer at SGI he came back all fired up and knew just what he wanted to do: speed-up real-time walk-throughs through complex buildings by doing a careful and totally accurate pre-analysis of what can possibly be seen from a particular location within a building. For this purpose the building was cut up into cells, typically the size of a small room, and a table was established showing what other cells one could possibly look into from the cell containing the observer. The algorithm to do this used an elegant stab-line algorithm based on 5-dimensional Pluecker coordinates, which figured out the farthest distance that a light ray could travel through a sequence of portals (i.e., doors or windows) linking one cell to its neighbors. Only the cells that one could possibly look into were then sent through the graphics rendering pipeline; this was typically just a few percent of the whole building geometry. The resulting speedup was from about 20 times to 100 times. Seth was equally well versed in computer theory, geometry, and computer graphics techniques, and he could blend all of this together to achieve outstanding and important results.

Even in this early stage of his career, Seth had good research taste, and a keen vision of what needed to be done next. Clearly, speeding up interactive movements through computer graphics scenes was something very important with the tidal wave of interactive graphics games just around the corner. Seth was a visionary and productive researcher -- as well as a very nice person and a wonderful team member. He will be greatly missed.

Carlo Sequin

Seth and I overlapped as computer science graduate students at the University of California, Berkeley between 1987 and 1991. We took a number of classes together, including a couple of tough, elective graduate physics courses, since both of us had a streak of scholastic masochism. We played ultimate frisbee together, and in fact we were in the middle of a game on 1989/10/17 when a big earthquake struck the Bay Area.

I fondly remember Seth's sense of humor, his talent at cracking my password, his intelligence, his hard work, and his intense and uncommonly high standards of morality and justice. Seth was a very sensitive and caring person. At Berkeley we commiserated on the plight of the lowly graduate student and we made fun of our professors. Then, years later, we commiserated on the frustrations of being tenure track faculty members in a world where superficiality often trumps substance.

More than most people, Seth seemed driven to make the world a better place. I'll remember him by his positive and optimistic example, by also trying personally to make the world a better place.

Here's an example of Seth's sense of humor, a parody that he and I wrote of a computer science seminar announcement, that is, ironically, close to one of Seth's later research topics, autonomous navigation: https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~ph/sem_trans.

Paul S. Heckbert

Andrea Bocelli and Seth during an ABF press conference (December 2013)

His dreams, his vital elan and the enlightened ideas that have marked his efforts in trying to make these dreams come true, will not be forgotten. In our small way we will continue, in his memory, and if possible even more motivated.

Andrea Bocelli
Founder, Andrea Bocelli Foundation

Seth with members of the Fifth Sense Project (June 2013)

ABF was born with Seth, and with our mutual dream to improve the lives of the visually impaired. Seth was a scientist but first of all a dear visionary friend, the most visionary of us all. With him we learned that research is first of all humanity, care, vision, and dream. He encouraged us to think big, not to think of tomorrow and the same thing I realized he used to do with his students all the times that I met him for Fifth Sense.

Laura Biancalani
President, Andrea Bocelli Foundation

Seth ABF Collaborators in Pisa (June 2012)

While gathering around you and to all the MIT Community, our thoughts go to Rachel and to their daughters, of whom he used to speak, every time we met, before starting to work.Faith will sustain us in this moment, along with all the most precious things Seth has left us: his dreams and his students, who will be a solid foundation for the future of ABF and of us as human beings.
I start my collaboration with Seth three years ago, by discussing the possibility of designing a system to help blind people in walking and going around freely. We had many discussions over the telephone or emails, exchange of ideas and collaborations, we organized with ABF two meetings, one in Pisa and one in Boston on assistive technology for blind people, and I learnt a lot from him But I really would like to remember him for three simple events a) drinking a coffee in Los Angeles after this speech at the fundraising dinner forABF (12,8,2011) b) a swim together near Pisa in a natural park in Vecchiano, after the ABF workshop in Pisa (7.6.2012) c) the authors dinner before the MIT ABF workshop where he asked people to switch seats to increase exchange of thoughts and get to know together) (12.6.2013). Those three moments have let me the opportunity to know him better than many papers or scientific discussions, his generosity, his passion, his genuine interest in what he was doing. We will miss you Seth.

Laura Giarre
Advisory Board, Andrea Bocelli Foundation

Seth speaking at an ABF event (Seth starts at 3:09)

Seth was my first robotics professor at MIT. I knew I wanted a career in robotics but not until I met Seth I had a role model. His upbeat personality and hardcore technical knowledge set the tone for my career. Thank you Seth for giving me one of my best experiences at MIT!

Jim (Huan) Liu
EECS BS 2010, MEng 2011

This is a photo from my commencement in 2013. I want to see his big smile again...

Jun-geun Park
PhD 2013 with Seth

In the Fall/Winter of 2013 Thomas Baxter Girdwood and Benjamin Robert Glass (son of Jim Glass, CSAIL PI and one of Seth's collaborators) made a documentary about Seth's assistive technologies course.

Seth and I got to MIT the same year; Seth was a new faculty member, I was returning to work on my PhD. I had finished my SM 10 years earlier and had been one of only a small number of women in EECS. When I returned, I often talked with Seth about how difficult it had been to be a woman in CS---in academia in general and at MIT in particular. He was always a great listener and incredibly supportive, both of me and of other women in the department. He was a big part of my success in finishing my PhD and in deciding to continue with teaching and research.

He is, and will continue to be, sorely missed.

Kimberle

Albert Huang's (PhD 2010 with Seth) going-away party

(Sent to the East Cambridge Family Group e-mail list)

"The love of your neighbor, in all its fullness, simply means asking, 'What are you going through?'"
- Simone Weil

I offer this posting as we, as a neighborhood, come to terms with the passing of Seth Teller. Perhaps it is the merest bit intense to use the word "love" on a neighborhood listseve...if so...please forgive me....but I wanted to offer this quotation as a reminder of what matters...because we are all going through something....and remembering what matters is important....through neighbor-to-neighbor conflicts, through neighborhood disagreement, through buildings being developed, through all of it...let us earnestly remember what matters.

So, I invite us all, the numbers of us on this listserve to consider asking someone in our very beloved East Cambridge neighborhood, someone we know even the merest bit, "How's it going?" We never know what kind of difference that can make...but we can assume it does make a difference. Might feel awkward....personal....but I'd rather awkwardness than loss.

Wishing us al well, and especially Rachel and her family, as we move forward.....thinking of Seth, and keeping in touch with each other.

Respectfully,
Helen Kobek

Many wonderful memories of Seth's participation. One favorite his is in the Wild and Crazy Ideas session at the lab retreat, suggesting that Mem Drive should be sunk, putting the traffic underground. This would make MIT a university running down in a series of gardens to the water -- a huge change in the quality of life. Seth noticed how nice it had been when Mem Drive was closed for a special occasion. Let's do it in his memory.

Tim Berners-Lee

I first heard of Prof. Teller back when I was in high school. I saw him on TV, in a documentary about the DARPA Urban Challenge - the competition to build an autnomous, self-driving vehicle for cities. Prof. Teller was the perception lead for MIT's team. I remember thinking to myself, "Wow! I'd love to work on an amazing project like this with these people!" It was really inspiring. Little did I know that one day, I would be fortunate enough to have such an opportunity.

A few years later as a young sophomore at MIT, the thought of even talking to Prof. Teller, who was so well-known in robotics, was intimidating. Nonetheless, I finally got up the courage to email him for some course advice. Just a few minutes later I received an enthusiastic and helpful reply - something I really appreciated since he didn't even know me, a lowly sophomore! I was lucky enough to start working for Prof. Teller as a UROP a few months later, on a spin-off project related to the DARPA Urban Challenge. The project was to build an autonomous forklift, and it was very exciting to work on such an amazing project. I had just a very small piece in the puzzle, but Prof. Teller had a friendly way of making every contribution feel important - a genuine sense of appreciativeness that is rare.

I've also had the immense fortune of taking many of Prof. Teller's classes: 6.141, 6.142, and his latest creation, Principles and Practice of Assistive Technology (PPAT). I kept coming back for more, probably because he was easily one of my favorite professors. He consistently had a way of inspiring students to be more than they thought they could be. Right when we were satisfied and thought we'd completed a task, Prof. Teller would come along with one of his ambitious ideas, looking at the problem in a creative new light, and push us just a little bit harder - but in a thoughtful and warm way. In this way, he inspired students to surpass their own expectations, and foster a playful & healthy disregard for the impossible.

I will profoundly miss Prof. Teller. He is a great man, someone whom I've always looked up to. I plan to respect his memory by reminding myself of his most important lessons: apply your technological knowledge for the benefit of humankind, always be warm and patient, and foster a playful disregard for the impossible. I think he would like that. I think he would also want everyone to find some silver-lining in his passing; some way to use this tragedy to make our community stronger, and make a positive difference in the world.

Steve Levine
MIT '11, M.Eng '12, Ph.D (current)

I am so sorry to hear the Seth has passed, please let everyone know that he will be missed, he left us much too soon. We are only here for such a short time and Seth left us with such a legacy. It was a joy to assist in some small way with the robotic lift truck, I have retired this year and will have more time to spend with family and friends.

Best Wishes,
David Ferretti
Brodie Toyota Lift
Worked with Seth on the forklift project

I am so saddened and heartbroken by the loss of Prof Seth Teller, and my thoughts are with his family.

I have had the pleasure of working with Seth for the last 8 years, and as the CSAIL photographer, have collected some touching pictures of him.

Jason Dorfman
TIG/CSAIL

Some words that come to mind, describing Professor Teller include: kind-hearted, thoughtful, brilliant, articulate, enthusiastic, heartfelt. As an undergraduate, he was nothing but supportive of my ambitions and dreams. From him, I learned to be more curious, more thoughtful, and more confident. When we first met, I was surprised by how excited he was to advise and understand how he could help me reach my goals and find my passions at MIT. He told me that advising was an opportunity for him to learn from MIT students in addition to us learning from him.

When I took his robotics class and later served as a lab assistant for the same class, his dedication to helping students was incredible, teaching both the hard skills of robotics and computer science, but also the soft skills of communication and team-building. I frequently thought that his advice on giving presentations was more focused and on-point than that of the communications instructors (though both were very useful).

After starting a research project advised by Professor Teller, I frequently entered meetings nervous to disappoint, but left them inspired and excited for future research endeavors. At the end of each meeting, he asked me questions about my experience, ensuring that I was enjoying my classes, the research project, and life at MIT. He was one of the most caring individuals that I've met.

Professor Seth Teller was not only a visionary in the robotics community, but also an amazing human being. I can't imagine what my life at MIT would have been like without him. He will be dearly missed.

Chelsea Finn
UROP and 6.141 lab assistant with Seth

I had the great privilege of being Professor Teller's Associate Advisor, meaning I provided a student perspective as he advised undergraduate students. Although Professor Teller wasn't my advisor he was always willing to give me advice and answer any questions I had. He also paid attention and remembered things that I told him, for example, I play ultimate frisbee and weeks after a meeting where I mentioned that fact he e-mailed me about a pickup league that he was involved with and asked if I would be interested in playing.

At first I thought maybe he remembered me because I was the Associate Advisor and therefore separate from the students he advised, but that was so far from the truth. Being able to work with him on the administrative side I saw how much he truly cared for each and every one of the students who selected him as their advisor. He was truly passionate about helping them to succeed and connecting them to each other and resources that would help them become as successful as possible.

Every semester he would arrange a dinner for all of his advisees, and he cared so much that one semester when there wasn't one night that worked for a majority of the group he had two dinners. He invited students to his home and would make a point to talk to every one there individually, as well as encouraging group discussions. He let us all into his life, and connected with the students on an extremely personal level.

By having the dinner in his home, he allowed us to share it with his family, and his family was my first thought when I heard the news, he left behind three wonderful people and I was just imagining his daughters growing up without him. At one of those dinners his younger daughter got really excited to have an audience and took out her violin and played "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," the way he encouraged her and was so proud of her made such an impression on me that even now, 3 years later, that was my first memory when I heard the news of his passing.

believe that everyone who came in touch with Seth was improved and was able to feel that he really cared and was passionate about learning and growing and life. I hope that in some way he will be commemorated in the way that he deserves because he was one of the most influential people that I had the pleasure of knowing while at MIT.

Alex Hsu

June 24, 2014

My name is Yajun Fang, a former CSAIL Ph.D. student and a current researcher at CSAIL under the supervision of professor Berthold K. P. Horn. I was very shocked and sadden by the loss of professor Teller. I am writing to share my memory about professor Teller as well as his activity in June 26th, which probably was his last activity of hosting a large group of international visitors.

Professor Seth Teller was assigned to be in the committee of my Ph.D. qualification exam many years ago. I was really impressed by his sharp and constructive suggestions on my work. That was my first direct contact with professor Teller though I have known him as an expert in computer graphics for a while. One of my best friend in course 12 at MIT took the "computer graphics" course taught by professor Teller. My friend really liked the course as well as professor Teller and kept telling us how much he developed strong interest in course 6 due to professor Teller's passionate teaching.

Later professor Teller gradually developed more interest in computer vision and I remembered that he had dinner with many MIT computer vision students including me at CVPR conference. That was my first time to experience his humor and warm attitude toward students.

My Ph.D. work focused on machine vision for intelligent vehicle and intelligent transportation systems. When professor Teller first prepared for DARPA challenge, my advisor professor Berthold Horn and I met professor Teller once and discussed the applications of machine vision in DARPA challenge and future autonomous vehicles. I was deeply impressed by his dedication and determination in pursuing the real applications of autonomous vehicles. Since then, I have been closely following professor Teller's work in robotics for many years and become closer to him than before.

I had my thesis defense in January, the winter break when most people left school. I was surprised to see that professor Teller came to my defense and sat in the first row, the right side of the classroom. He actually sat in the similar position when he was in my Ph.D. qualification exam. His eyesight encouraged me and helped me to calm down. He asked a few questions after my defense which I forgot. But I remembered that he gave me a very positive comment "I was impressed by the work both qualitatively and quantitatively." For years I had been worrying if my work was meaningful. The attention and comment from a professor who was not in my thesis committee was so inspiring. I could not express how much appreciation I had toward him in my heart. He might forget that he once was in my qualification committee many years ago. I was so glad to be able to receive his supportive feedback when I graduated. Since then, the comment has been encouraging me to believe in myself whenever I lost confidence. I regret that I did not have a chance to tell him right away how much I appreciated his attending my defense and encouraging me.

When professor Teller started to work in the area of assistive technology, I really liked the direction and was impressed by his vision and the great team. In March 2014 Professor Horn and I invited professor Teller to give a talk on assistive technology at the International Conference on Universal Village 2014(UV2014) at MIT in June 16-17. Professor Teller agreed and gave me a list of contact people in the field of assistive technology. Though he did not make it due to unexpected schedule conflict, his student William Li gave the talk. I met professor Teller one week after UV2014 and thank him for the support from him and William Li. I invited him for UV2015 and discussed the possible arrangement.

On June 22nd, UV2014 speaker, Dr. Minsheng Yuan contacted professor Teller on June 21st (Saturday) and asked his help to host a visit from a group of Chinese high school students who came to attend iGEM competition at MIT. Visiting a dream MIT lab would help them to get extra credits for the competition. Professor Teller responded in the very next day, Sunday, and set the visit time on June 26th. The students were so excited and touched that professor Teller was willing to host these high students during the summer break.

Dr. Minsheng Yuan and I brought the group, 16 students + 3 teacher/tutors, to professor Teller's lab around 10:45am on June 26th. He patiently used the video presentation and explained lot of details. I enjoyed his talk so much that I started to take note. The student stood in a circle and he faced toward them. I stood right behind professor Teller. To my surprise, from time to time, he would turn his body around 180 degree to give me the eye contact and kind smile. I was so touched by his consideration and kindness. The group asked for 10 minutes meeting and professor Teller spent nearly 30-35 minutes to introduce the research to students and answered their questions. We had to stop the high students from asking questions since the group has other arrangements.

The students were so thrilled by the visit and went to the iGEM competition with great passion and happiness. They later won the bet software tool as shown in http://2014hs.igem.org/Main_Page (Best Software Tool: SKLBC-China). It is too early to discuss or predict the significance of the visit to the group. But I am pretty sure that professor Teller planted a magic seed in their heart which would encourage them in their future journey.

Even if professor Teller was not in my thesis committee, he actually witnessed and supported the important milestones of my MIT journey. He has been teaching me the significant component of being a good scientist, sharpness, curiosity, compassion, care, kindness, consideration, sincerity, patience, perseverance, etc. He was such a kind, gentle soul and would do anything to help people in need. It feels so sad that I never told him that how important he was in my life.

The loss would be profound for his personal family, his group, CSAIL members, MIT, scientific community, as well as many other people in the world who are inspired by him. I informed the sad news to the group who visited professor Teller on June 26th and received two separate emails from China for condolence. One is from the university who organized the iGEM competition team in China while another is from the teacher and students who visited professor Teller. I will forward them and pictures separately to rememberingseth email. It is difficult to describe the feeling accurately. But the magic seeds that professor Teller grew in these young students would grow into big trees which would benefit more people in the future.

Professor Tell will be remembered in the hearts of these young kids who visited him only once as well as other people like me who have been being inspired by him for a long time.

My thoughts and prayers are with his family and I wish them peace.

Yajun Fang

Seth co-advised my master's thesis, and I've known him since I started at MIT in 2009. He was always a rich source of ideas during research meetings and a massive source of encouragement and support at many stages. In my mind, what set Seth apart was how genuinely dedicated he was to turning research into real, meaningful contributions that positively affect real people.

The past five years of my life have been shaped profoundly by Professor Teller and his taste for practical, real-world research problems. I have memories that range from mundane to transformative: For the robotic forklift project, he sent me and two other students to Fort Hood, Texas, to watch military forklift operators train and do their work; he took us all to a Subway for a mid-afternoon somewhere between Dorchester and Cambridge after he and a dozen grad students and UROPs spent several hours surveying the WiFi network at The Boston Home for our indoor localization project; he was hugely supportive when I decided to apply and continue as a PhD student in computer science.

No, it wasn't always the perfect fit: Seth tended to meet more on a per-project basis instead of as a research group, and I might have benefited from a little more guidance and a little more structure as a new grad student. But he did care deeply about his advisees. As his only Technology and Policy Program (TPP) student, when TPP held an information session across campus for new (and maybe nervous) advisors, he went and asked questions; when I helped start the Assistive Technology Club, he was an immediate, unequivocal, enthusiastic supporter. When I decided to work on something different after finishing my thesis, Seth let me keep my desk in his lab indefinitely, a small but meaningful gesture that helped me feel like I belonged somewhere during a challenging transition. Quite simply, I wouldn't be the person I am today without his support and guidance.

I probably saw Seth most closely at work when I was the teaching assistant for his new course, Principles and Practice of Assistive Technology (PPAT), in Fall 2011. In the class, teams of students work closely with a person with a disability in the Boston area and build an assistive device that fulfills an unmet need. Professor Teller's dedication to developing and implementing the class from scratch (helping students learn and succeed, finding clients, and managing logistics) was incredible and inspiring. For one of the labs, we rented manual wheelchairs and had students pair up and do a "mobility survey" around campus and experience doing everyday tasks in a wheelchair; once everyone left the room, Seth and I took a wheelchair and went around campus, experiencing the same things (and filing MIT Facilities repair requests for non-functioning automatic doors, poor signage, and other accessiblity issues). I'm biased, but I really believe that Seth's approach and the course exemplify the Mens et Manus (Mind and Hand) motto of MIT and the very best of service learning and engineering education. It doesn't feel quite right yet to be talking about Professor Teller's... legacy, but I really hope that the kind of work done in PPAT will continue at MIT and beyond.

I always knew that Seth did many things, but I'm only starting to learn about his involvement in local issues in Cambridge and the other facets of his life. He embodied citizenship. The world is immeasurably poorer without him.

To Seth: Thank you for everything.

William Li
MS 2012 with Seth

I am feeling so sad and shocked about Seth's sudden death, that my mind is reeling with all my memories of him. Most particularly, I keep seeing his kind face and hearing his warm voice whenever I ran into him in the building. I remember going to an event outside of stata before one of the DARPA challenges and Seth was there very happy and friendly toward everyone; in particular, to my husband and a cousin who was at the event.

I also worked with Seth for a short time when he was the Area II chair, and I was the Area II admin asst. He treated me with such respect that I always wanted to do even more just to feel his approval. He was awesome to work for and I am just so stunned..

Joanne Talbot Hanley

I've known Seth for as many years as I have fingers, and maybe some of my toes as well. It's hard to remember since it seemed like Seth has always there - a regular, steady presence.

Seth and I played Ultimate frisbee together - Tuesdays in Cambridge, Sundays in Arlington, and sometimes on frigid Thursday nights in Topsfield. For all of those years, Seth was as good natured and happy person as I have known - but he also was intimidating. He was probably too laid back to even consider this, but it's not every day that a typical civilian like me meets a robot building scientist from MIT. I mean, Seth was the kind of guy that they follow around on NOVA - a cool but seriously wicked smart guy.

In fact, Seth's recent trip to Fukashima seemed to open up amazing new possibilities for his work in robotics. When we talked about it on the frisbee field in Arlington a few weeks ago, it was so exciting to discuss ideas that sounded like science fiction, but that I imagine were well on their way to being realities.

And while perhaps his resume was intimidating, as we all know, Seth was warm and encouraging, always breaking out his smile when he saw a friend.

Because of our overlapping professional work in assistive technologies for people who are blind or have low vision, we occasionally discussed working on a project together but, we assumed, there'd always be time to get around to it.

Seth was as much a mentor as he was a friend. That was simply his nature. He was a few years older than me and was in many ways a guide on how to still be out there and doing it - and including his family in on the fun - and encouraging us to do the same.

On the frisbee field, it would happen at random times, but you knew it would happen -- you'd hear Seth shout: "Shooter" or "Heppner" or "Simon" or "Dan" or "Lee" or whoever it was who had the disc - as he streaked up the field for a long huck - more often than not, defying his age and laying out in the soft grass for a score.

Or, when Seth had the disc, I'd love to hear him shout "GO, B.G.!" Regardless of how long we might have been playing that day, Seth fully expected me to find some hidden reserves in order to chase down a 50-yard forehand that hung just enough, waiting for me in the endzone. Of course, it wasn't just me, Seth would encourage anyone to dig deep and race for a score - that's what friends do ...on the field and in life... and so, when he shouted my name, I knew I couldn't refuse.

Seth was almost as passionate about Ultimate frisbee as he was about the Lot - our improbable, decade-long tradition of post-Ultimate burgers, beers and tailgating-games in the lot behind Whole Foods in Fresh Pond. Going to the lot was easy when it was warm and starry, but Seth would rally us to the Lot when it was rainy or cold and it was always worth it. And with his electric power-blower trick, he could get a Weber bar-b-que to flame up and have coals ready in no time, even the worst conditions.

A few years ago, Seth and Rachel invited us for dinner at their home and we had a wonderful night. Our girls and their girls disappeared immediately to play upstairs, Andrea and Rachel got to know each other a little and bonded over their childhood love for the Bibilically inspired musicals: Jesus Christ Superstar and Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat. I still can't figure that one out... Seth and I talked about family life and ultimate and Cambridge and the merits of playing on grass as opposed to the plastic playing fields that were anathema to Seth's enjoyment of a warm summer's day. After dinner, Seth got everyone back together and we had a dance party - just like at a family wedding, with all of us in a circle, grooving to the music and then taking turns gliding into the center to bust a move.

I always assumed I'd return the favor and have Seth and family to our place but ...we moved ...and life, as it always does, got busy ..but of course, I figured there's always next month or next year ...at some point, we'd get around to it.

And since I saw Seth one or two times a week playing Ultimate, things seemed like they were always going to be like they were.

This is hard and maddening and tragic and too soon and dammit, I can still hear his voice so clearly: "GO B.G.! Come on baby! GO B.G.!"

And so, for Seth, for you buddy, - I'll always dig deep and race for the score.

Bryan Gould
Director, Accessible Learning and Assessment Technologies
National Center for Accessible Media at WGBH (NCAM)

I helped Ekapol Chuangsuwanich with the speech commands for the forklift demo at Fort Lee in Virginia. We worked outside in mid-90s temperatures for several long days preparing for the four demos at the end. One part of the group was busy finding a way to keep the forklift laptops cool enough and cam up with a solution that involved a disassembled hand-held vacuum, a basked of dry ice, and, of course, duct tape. Our part was originally to use four microphones mounted on top of the forklift to be able to stop the forklift by shouting "stop" at it, which we actually had to make use of once. But then we added the ability to issue commands to the forklift, just as they could be issued via the hand-held device. About a day and a half before the actual demo, Seth had the crazy idea of summoning the forklift using the bullhorn, something which was clearly impossible because of the distance to the forklift, the distortion, and all the construction background noise, so we spent the next day collecting bullhorn samples and training new speech recognition models at MIT over a flaky wireless connection, and squeezed in a little testing and it actually worked. You can see it at the beginning of the movie from the demo when Matt Walter says "Forklift, come to receiving." That could never have happened without Seth's confidence making the impossible possible and his great leadership of that large team.

Scott Cyphers

In the spring of 2012, I was in a debate with several other economists over whether the Google car was fully autonomous. The actual knowledge in this debate was equivalent to the knowledge lifelong vegans would bring to a debate over how best to grill a porterhouse steak. I knew that Seth and John Leonard had directed MIT's entry in the DARPA autonomous vehicle challenge and so I contacted them for help. They gave me a lucid explanation of what the Google car could and could not do and at the end of a couple of phone calls, John suggested that it was time for economists and computer scientists to start talking to each other to get a better understanding of the impact of computerized work. Seth immediately agreed.

We organized first CSAIL/Economist meeting that May - perhaps fifteen people, half CSAIL faculty including Seth and half economists. Since then we have had about a dozen sessions. Seth helped to organize some of them and participated in all of them.

The early meetings were roundtable discussions, The meetings were exciting and also funny as faculty from each discipline realized how little they actually knew about the other. The education continued between meetings and I know we sometimes exhausted Seth's patience with our elementary questions. He nonetheless answered all of them, much to our benefit.

As the sessions progressed, we moved from discussion to having speakers. In the fall of 2013, Seth gave a lucid summary of the DARPA Robotic Challenge as the competition stood at that point finishing with some observations on the state of robotics. It was our good fortune that day to have a foundation president as a guest and Seth's presentation explains why, in subsequent sessions, Seth, John and I could stop foraging for money for sandwiches.

The most recent of these sessions took place this past June 20 with about 20 of us spending the morning listening to CSAIL faculty (and Gill Pratt) debate how fast the technology was moving and economists debate how to respond to the economic disruption. Seth was Seth, challenging extravagant claims, pushing for concrete examples, keeping both parts of the conversation honest.

There is, today, much popular writing on how computers will soon rule the world. In reality, computers' impact in the workplace is much more subtle than this. Seth "got" the subtly more than anyone else in our group. His description of computers evolving from simulation through communication and ultimately to engagement will shape how we view this subject for a long time.

I did not know Seth well. I had looked forward to getting to know him better.

Frank Levy
Rose Professor Emeritus, MIT

Seth had a great influence on me during our time together working on the DARPA Urban Challenge. He was always the level head and kept us focused. As an engineer, he taught me the importance of great visualization as a tool to solve problems, a skill that I still use.

More than anyone else I've ever met, Seth was determined that his work be used for the betterment of society. He was unselfish in striving towards this goal. I believe that will be his greatest legacy.

David Moore
MS 2005 with Seth

Once in grad school, Seth, Mike and I went out with Mike's pretty cousin, who was visiting. We decided to play pool. Seth really wanted to be on a team with Mike's cousin, but the game would have been over before it started - I'm an awful player, and Seth was a lot better than Mike (Seth was better at most sports, barroom or playing field, than the rest of us CS grad students). So Seth offered to play the whole game shooting behind his back. And, even so, they creamed us. Just amazing.

Nina Amenta

Here are three things I want to share:

1. He praised when people worked hard and did a good job. His words like "terrific", "excellent" are very powerful words that kept me energetic to keep going. And after the presentation of my current progress, he always asked "What's next?" to let you think for the next step.

2. He is down-to-earth. Last November, we were busy preparing for the DRC trial late at night. He found that the garbage was piled at the workplace, and food boxes were everywhere. He volunteered to clean up the environment. To me, it is not a pleasant job. I couldn't imagine such a great professor would do it by himself instead of complaining. Seeing that, I asked if he needed help, and he said he's fine keep working on your job...

3. He is a good communicator. Often, at some points, I, as a non-native English speaker, didn't understand fast English or some kind of joke. He noticed that and translated to me in simple English to help me understand. That really help to make me get into the team.

Peter K.T. Yu
Seth's PhD student

Seth, it was my privilege to get to know a talented and wonderful person like you.

Sup Premvuti
Kirinson, Inc.

Separate from his world-level academic work, Seth Teller also stood out on a local level for his civic engagement in our city here. And, on a individual level, he was the kind of person to send nice quick email notes to people, even if he didn't really know them.

Neil Van Dyke

I am a first year PhD student in CSAIL and I was working with Prof. Seth. I have a nice story to share with you all.

Before I start this story may be telling this one thing about me will make a lot of sense. I am very skinny. My height is 5'8" (1.72 m) and I weigh only 110 lbs.

The story goes like this:

Once I went to Prof. Seth's office to discuss my recent work on my research project. As soon as, I entered his office, he said, "Rahul, like me, you are growing very thin. You should probably put on some weight!" What he actually meant that both of us Prof. Seth and I are growing very thin.

Rahul Namdev

I had the pleasure of knowing and working with Seth when I was a graduate student working on the Autonomous Forklift Project. I will always remember his energy and drive, and what a great leader he was in helping to make this project successful. His intellect and drive are rare to find, and he will surely be missed. Thank you Seth for your leadership and kindness, and for teaching us so many things that are important to being successful in life.

Tara Sainath

In August 2012 I had the pleasure of co-organizing a tour around MIT for the Make-a-Wish foundation. Gabby's wish was to visit MIT & Harvard and so we set up tours of the MIT Media Lab, CSAIL and the Broad Institute. Seth was enthusiastic about participating in this, and he took the time to show Gabby around his lab, explain his work and answer her questions in detail. Gabby was visibly impressed and had a great time. Attached are 2 photos from that day.

Wouter Meuleman
Postdoc, Kellis Lab, MIT CSAIL

I am just so saddened by Seth's death. I just can't believe it. I worked in his group for a year in the old building, and he was a kind and loving leader and gave me some wonderful opportunities to grow. I re-designed the Graphics web site, and it was so much fun. Hopefully he was happy with what I made. It was a short time in his lab but I will always be so grateful, and he was such a wonderful person with a wonderful generous spirit and smile.

He was/is well-loved and will be sorely missed.

Sally Lee
Admin in Arvind's group

Prof. Teller,

You will always live in our hearts.

Sincerely,
Jacqueline

I haven't lived near Seth in 30 years. We drifted apart, only connecting with each other occasionally. But Seth and I were best friends through high school. He was the first person I met when we moved to Bolton in 1976. He lived just up the street from me. I must have spent over a thousand days at his house or he at mine. We were inseparable. When we were kids he was always playing around with gadgets and things. His room was always a mess. I remember he wanted to see how fast a record could play with the needle still tracking. He connected a high speed motor to the side of the turntable platter. We were able to play all of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody in about 5 seconds. We thought it was amazing. I think he even calculated the RPMs based on the play time and actual length of the song. This is just one of thousands of memories I have of him. It's a silly one but it has stuck with me all these years. I miss him so much already.

Warren Drummand
Currently living in Silverdale, WA