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Robert (“Doctor Bob”) Shillman

Dr. Robert J. Shillman (Doctor Bob) holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Northeastern University and both Master’s and Ph.D. degrees from MIT where he specialized in artificial intelligence (AI). He tells everyone, “Unfortunately, I wasn’t born with natural intelligence, so I had to go with the artificial kind, but it worked out really well!”

In 1981, he left academia and invested his life’s savings in a company that he named, “Cognex,” which stands for Cognition Experts. With a lot of hard work, perseverance and risk-taking, Cognex grew to become the world’s leading supplier of machine vision systems (computers that can “see”). And, Doctor Bob has received international recognition for both his business achievements and his unique “work hard, play hard” management style.

Soon after Cognex became a publicly listed company in 1989 (NASDAQ: CGNX), Doctor Bob decided to use his newfound wealth to help a variety of charitable causes. He views his philanthropy as an investment in the future and currently supports more than 60 different philanthropic organizations that are each involved in one or more of the following causes:

  • Upholding the United States constitution, with emphasis on freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and the right to bear arms
  • Ensuring the continuation of the free enterprise system in America
  • Helping to ensure the continued security and prosperity of the state of Israel
  • Higher Education, with an emphasis on STEM
  • Health, with an emphasis on cancer research and treatment

Because of his increasing involvement in charitable causes, he tells everyone that his Ph.D. no longer stands for Doctor of Philosophy but for Doctor of Philanthropy!

Story

The Early Years

I grew up in a working-class neighborhood near Boston, Massachusetts with my mother, father, and sister. Although my family had very modest means, I never felt poor, because all my friends lived the same way. My father never had a new car, and, at times, he had no car. To get to work, he took two buses and a train and still had to walk 15 minutes from the station…rain or shine. My father worked hard to make ends meet. He was my example.
Every snowstorm, I shoveled driveways. Every summer, I cut lawns.
I learned that if I wanted something, I had to earn money to buy it. And that’s a lesson that I still adhere to today and that I pass on to my two sons.

I recall one neighbor who was doing quite well in the plumbing business— so well that he bought a Cadillac— a sign of wealth at the time. But I didn’t resent it. Instead, I thought, “Oh, I want that. Maybe someday if I work hard, I’ll be successful and can buy one too.” Times have certainly changed. These days, we’re taught to resent the success of others and to believe that their success was due to them taking advantage of someone else. We’re taught that life is a zero-sum game…if someone gets something, it must have been taken away from someone else. That may be true in a Marxist society, but it certainly isn’t true in a Capitalist one where wealth is created every day.

I was a curious kid who didn’t like following rules…especially the rule to sit still in class; this made for a lousy student in K through 12, but fine for a student studying engineering in college.
After graduating with a Master’s and Ph.D. from MIT, I accepted a teaching position as an Assistant Professor for a couple years. I enjoyed teaching, but not the many administrative duties that go along with being a faculty member…I’m just not a committee kind of guy.

Sometime back in 1980, I had a conversation with an entrepreneur who was on his second startup, and I thought, “If he can do that, I can too!”

The Cognex years

Sometime back in 1980, I had a conversation with an entrepreneur who was on his second startup, and I thought, “If he can do that, I can too!” I was inspired to take my entire life savings — all $86,000 of it — and start a business. And, 40 years later, that company, Cognex Corporation, is now worth $14 billion! GOD BLESS AMERICA!

About two years ago, Cognex started getting pressure from investors to go woke…urging the board and senior management to spend more time on environmental and social issues…which means that less time would be available for helping our customers and for developing leading-edge products for them. And then, the COVID pandemic struck…requiring more rules and regulations and executive orders from both the federal, state governments.

Running a public company in America has become increasingly complex; it’s just not as much fun as it has been. So, with mixed feelings, I resigned from the position of Chairman of the Board and have basically retired from the company that I led and loved for 40 years. Despite my age, I still have a lot of energy, and I sure have a lot of time…how should I spend it?

The Fight is On

Americans used to love this country, but, unfortunately, that love is waning due to the constant barrage of disinformation and propaganda from the left. I now have the time to fight that trend. By telling stories of success, I hope to re-awaken our citizens to the positives about America and give them hope for their future and for their children’s future.

Do not comply!

It’s 2020, I’m standing in the checkout line at a local hardware store without a mask…but socially distanced from the customer in front of me…when that customer turns around, notices that I’m not wearing a mask, and says, in a very commanding tone, “You’ve got to put a mask on!” And I respond, “Why?” “Because IT’S AN ORDER.” To which I reply, “I’m not in the military; I don’t follow f-ing orders!” Then the checkout person chimes in, “You need to wear a mask or you’ll have to leave.” I hold my ground. “I’ll leave as soon as I’m done shopping.”
“I will call the police!” I know that it’s a scare tactic to get me to comply, but I also know if I give in, I’m helping to erode our human rights. In moments like this, courage is a requirement.
I steel myself and say, “Yeah, you want to call the police? Call the police.”
And guess what? They don’t call the police. I finish my shopping and leave. I didn’t put on a mask then, and I still refuse to comply with any such “order” or “mandate.”

It’s been nearly two years, yet the order to wear a mask is still required in many places — long past the two weeks to “flatten the curve” we were told at the beginning of the pandemic.
Not wearing a mask in public has become a “crime,” and the next step is losing the right to refuse to take a vaccine that was rushed to market. How did America come to this? Who gave our politicians the right to issue arbitrary “orders” or “mandates” without first going through the legislative process?

Our government tells us that these orders and mandates are to ensure our safety. Benjamin Franklin once said: “Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” And, in a similar vein, Thomas Jefferson said, “A society that will trade a little liberty for a little order will lose both, and deserve neither.”

Most people don’t recognize that these orders and mandates are eroding our individual freedoms; they take away our G-D given right to choose what is best for ourselves. That’s why “I will not comply” has become my mantra. When anyone without proper authority orders me to do something or not to do something, I don’t comply! “It’s a government order.” “I’m not in the military. I don’t take f-king orders!” If we do not resist these unlawful mandates, our rights WILL be gone…one by one until we have nothing left. And that frightens me far more than the possibility of getting arrested or spending a night in jail for not complying.

America is the greatest country in the world. My story and the stories of other successful people provide proof that the free-enterprise system works. Seeing the overreach of the government and hearing reports of doom and gloom blasted by the media 24/7 makes me angry. Worse than that, is the way that Americans are complying with orders without questioning them and allowing their rights to be eroded.

Today, I’m a conservative podcast host, here to wake people up to the fundamental principles based on our Judeo-Christian founding that made America great and that will continue to keep us great…unless America is “fundamentally changed,” as Barack Obama told us he intended to do.
I didn’t wake up one morning, ready to start a podcast. That decision happened gradually.
It started with the lawless orders to “flatten the curve.” As time passed and the lockdowns became more egregious…
I felt that my voice — and the voices of most other Americans were not being heard. By sharing REAL stories of success, I hope to awaken people to the truth…
America’s success is built on America’s freedoms, and those freedoms need to be defended.