Chris Anderson
Advisor at Renaissance Philanthropy
Palo Alto, California, United States
Summary
🤩
Rockstar🎓
Top SchoolChris Anderson is an experienced technology and product leader who has spent the past three decades bridging journalism, robotics, and AI-driven science, now advising startups and foundations from Palo Alto to the UK. A former Editor-in-Chief of Wired and CEO/CTO of drone pioneer 3DR and Kittyhawk, he built and scaled open hardware and software ecosystems—co-founding initiatives like DIYDrones, Dronecode, and DIYRobocars—and still contributes to influential open-source projects such as DonkeyCar. He combines hands-on engineering (full-stack contributions to autonomy platforms) with policy and standards work, having led the ASTM drone type certification effort and served on the FAA Drone Advisory Committee. Currently he focuses on AI+Science and advanced manufacturing as an advisor, board observer, and chief engineer in stealth ventures, connecting interdisciplinary communities across Silicon Valley and the UK. Trained in computational physics, Chris pairs scientific rigor with product instincts and a journalist’s ability to explain complexity, which helps him shepherd research into deployable technology. A not-obvious note: his career uniquely spans founding open-source hardware movements, writing bestselling books, and shaping regulatory standards for emerging flight technologies.
14 years of coding experience
11 years of employment as a software developer
Computational Physics, Computational Physics at University of California, BerkeleyBS Computational Physics, BS Computational Physics at The George Washington University
Github Skills (14)
configuration-management10
cart10
raspberry-pi10
controller10
python10
integrations9
hardware-interface9
system-integration9
embedded8
ole8
sys8
lidar8
open-source7
git7
Programming languages (10)
Github contributions (5)
autorope/donkeycar
Jan 2021 - Dec 2021
Open source hardware and software platform to build a small scale self driving car.
Role in this project:
Full-stack Developer
Full-stack DeveloperContributions:27 reviews, 55 commits, 96 PRs in 11 months
Contributions summary:Chris primarily contributed to the configuration and template files of the Donkey Car platform. Their contributions include fixing configuration options, updating default settings, and correcting typos across multiple files. They also made changes to the OLED display, and Lidar sensor implementation as well as refactoring the RC control system. Furthermore, they addressed various issues within the controller files, improving compatibility and functionality.
pythondonkeycartensorflowopen-source-hardwareraspberry-pi
zlite/OpenMVrover
Feb 2017 - Feb 2021
Contributions:92 pushes, 1 branch in 4 years
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