Lem Fugitt

   Lem and Hiroshi Matamura

I was born in Washington, D.C. and lived there until the age of 7 when we moved to a foreign country - Southern California. I've been dealing with strange and unique cultures ever since.

A life long fascination with technology, its applications, and its impact on society in general, has driven my career ever since my father and I stood in the backyard looking up at the bright speck in the night sky that was Sputnik.

My work experience has included manufacturing (quality assurance during the Vietnam and Aerospace eras); software development (numerical control part programming systems for manufacturing applications); technical support (CAD/CAM systems in the U.S., Japan, and Asia during the 80's); business development (major account management for a major workstation and server manufacturer); purchasing and supply chain management (negotiating, implementing and managing supply contracts between the U.S. and Japan); divisional management (senior executive responsible for the North American printer business of a major Japanese company); and corporate strategic planning.

From a technology perspective, I feel as if I have surfed the aerospace wave, the CAD/CAM wave, the workstation/server wave, the color printer wave, the internet - shrinking world - wave, and now I'm enjoying surfing the robotics wave.

I currently reside in Japan, close enough to the center of Tokyo to enjoy it, but far enough away that I am not bothered by all the noise and crowds. Living in Japan must agree with me since I've lived here off and on for 15 out of the past 23 years on three different occasions. It also provides an excellent location for me to pursue my interest in robotics, which I write about frequently on my Robots Dreams weblog.