In an interview in Forbes, Vinodh Gopal talks about life as an inventor, including his work with FIRST Robotics Competitions and FIRST LEGO League:

When people think about invention, they tend to envision a single individual toiling away in obscurity. That’s so far from reality it pains me. Invention doesn’t happen in a vacuum; more often, it’s the result of teamwork. That’s been true since at least Thomas Edison founded the world’s first industrial research and development labs. For Intel’s Inventor of the Year, senior principal engineer Vinodh Gopal, effective teamwork is essential

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His work has resulted in 170 patents in the U.S. alone and spans a wide range of technologies including instruction sets, processor architecture, accelerators, algorithms, memory, storage, and interconnects. Gopal joined the company in 2002 and was recognized for the long-term impact of his inventions. For example, he and his team helped invent and introduce features into processors that have made encryption — which used to be cost-prohibitive — essentially free. 

“Vinodh’s inventions have been used by every single person who has been on the internet. Among many other impacts, his advances in cryptography have made web transactions safer and more secure,” said Intel Fellow Martin G. Dixon.

Read more of "Practical Insights From Intel's Inventor Of The Year" in forbes.com.

Photo: Forbes, Renuka Iyengar