Daniel H. Wilson


Daniel H. Wilson is a New York Times best-selling author, television host and robotics engineer. He currently resides in Portland, Oregon. His books include the award-winning humor titles How to Survive a Robot Uprising, Where's My Jetpack? and How to Build a Robot Army and the bestseller Robopocalypse.

Early life

Daniel H. Wilson was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the elder of two children. He is Cherokee and a citizen of the Cherokee Nation.

Education

Wilson attended Booker T. Washington High School, graduating in 1996. He earned his B.S. in Computer Science at the University of Tulsa in 2000, spending one semester studying philosophy abroad in Melbourne, Australia at the University of Melbourne. He completed an M.S. in Robotics, another M.S. in Machine Learning, and his Ph.D. in Robotics in 2005 at the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His thesis work, entitled Assistive Intelligent Environments for Automatic Health Monitoring, focused on providing automatic location and activity monitoring in the home via low-cost sensors such as motion detectors and contact switches. He has worked as a research intern at Microsoft Research, the Xerox PARC, Northrop Grumman, and Intel Research Seattle.

Awards

''How to Survive a Robot Uprising''

How to Survive A Robot Uprising, published during Wilson's final year of graduate school in late 2005, was optioned by Paramount Pictures. A screenplay was written by Tom Lennon and Ben Garant, and produced by Mike DeLuca. Mike Myers was attached to star;. The sequel to How to Survive a Robot Uprising, called "How to Build a Robot Army", was also optioned by Paramount Pictures. However, the options eventually expired.
In October 2010, How to Survive A Robot Uprising was re-optioned by Steve Pink and actor Jack Black.

''Bro-Jitsu''

In May 2007, Bro-Jitsu was optioned by Nickelodeon Movies and Wilson hired to write the screenplay.

''Robopocalypse''

In November 2009, Wilson sold his novel Robopocalypse to Doubleday, with Jason Kaufman coming on as editor. One day before rights to the novel were purchased, Wilson sold film rights to DreamWorks SKG, with Steven Spielberg officially signing on to direct. On March 7, 2018, Michael Bay replaced Spielberg as director over Spielberg’s scheduling conflicts.

''Amped''

In November 2010, Wilson sold his novel AMPED to Doubleday, again working with editor Jason Kaufman. Film rights to the novel were sold to Summit Entertainment, with Alex Proyas attached to direct.

''The Nostalgist''

In 2014, Wilson's short story was adapted into the short film The Nostalgist written and directed by Giacomo Cimini. The short film premièred Jun 19, 2014 at the Palm Springs International Shortfest.

''Alpha''

In 2014, it was announced that Lionsgate Studios has acquired the distributing rights to Wilson's screenplay for the upcoming sci-fi film Alpha. Anthony Scott Burns is attached to direct, and Brad Pitt is reportedly involved in production as well.

Television Host

Wilson hosted a series on the History Channel entitled The Works, which debuted on July 10, 2008. Ten episodes of The Works aired, in which Wilson explained the hidden workings of everyday items, including Sneakers, Guns, Beer, Garbage, Robots, Skydiving, Power Tools, Steel, Motorcycles, and Tattoos. He has also appeared as himself in Modern Marvels and Countdown to Doomsday.