Robert Hopkins completed his bachelor's degree at Purdue in 1964 and joined RCA's David Sarnoff Research Center. Working part-time, he received his Ph.D. from Rutgers University in 1970. Although he studied to be a solid state engineer, he was continually drawn to television systems. In 1976 he transferred to the RCA Broadcast Systems Division where he held positions in engineering, strategic planning, and business management. In 1981 he attended the Harvard Business School Program for Management Development and was appointed the managing director of an RCA European subsidiary.

He left RCA in 1985 to become executive director of the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC). Under his guidance and direction, ATSC developed the digital broadcasting standard adopted by the FCC for use in the United States. In 1996 he joined Sony Pictures' HD Center, a production and post-production facility that specializes in the use of high definition technology in the motion picture industry.

Hopkins is a Fellow of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers and a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. The holder of seven patents, he has received two Outstanding Achievement Awards from RCA, the 1998 National Association of Broadcasters' Television Engineering Achievement Award, and a 1998 Emmy for the Center's work on high resolution digital film scanners.

In 1972, Hopkins was a member of the RCA communications team that preceded President Nixon's trip to China. He has served as an adjunct professor at the New Jersey Institute of Technology and as spokesman for the United States on high definition television standards. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Advanced Television Technology Center and the Model HDTV Station Project, and on the Board of Trustees of the California Institute of Design and Digital Arts. When not engaged at the Center, Hopkins can be found riding his Harley-Davidson motorcycle in the southern California desert.