Bruce Shimano was born in Los Angeles, California. He attended Stanford University for his undergraduate and graduate degrees, earning a bachelor’s, master’s, and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering. During his time at Stanford, he worked as a research assistant at the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab (SAIL) from 1974 to 1978/79 under Lou Paul. In 1983, Shimano co-founded Adept Technology Inc., and served as its Vice President of Research and Development and Secretary from June 1983 to December 2003. Before that he was Director of Software Development at Unimation, Inc., contributing to several robotic software projects including VAL. In 2004, he co-founded Precise Automation LLC, where he currently serves as its Chief Operating Officer and Vice President of R&D.