Social Robots: From Research to Commercialization
Dr. Cynthia Breazeal: MIT Media Lab, Jibo Inc., USA
Abstract
The fields of Social Robotics and Human-Robot Interaction are undergoing rapid growth, motivated by important societal challenges facing the general public such as aging in place, healthcare, education, manufacturing, transportation, and much more. Such applications motivate the development of ever more intelligent and capable autonomous robots and technologies that can work collaboratively with people in human environments. In the consumer marketplace, intelligent conversational technologies are entering the home at a surprising rate as Internet of Things devices are enabled by AI-based SDKs. Affordable social robots are also poised to enter the market as mass consumer products and 3rd party developer platforms.
The dual importance of both developing and understanding the longitudinal impact of such technologies never been more relevant. This keynote presentation highlights a number of provocative research findings from the Personal Robots Group at the MIT Media Lab. We develop social robots and apply them as a new kind of scientific tool to understand human behavior. We then use these insights to design and develop social robots that can longitudinally engage people to enhance quality of life outcomes. In this presentation, we highlight relevant work in healthcare and early childhood education.
Research in social robotics builds a critical foundation for real world applications. The entrepreneurial journey of bringing a social robot consumer product to market in the USA will also be discussed in the context of Jibo, Inc.
Biography
Dr. Cynthia Breazeal is an Associate Professor of Media Arts and Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where she founded and directs the Personal Robots Group at the Media Lab. She is also founder and Chief Scientist of Jibo, Inc. She is a pioneer of Social Robotics and Humam-Robot Interaction. Her recent work investigates the impact of social robots on helping people of all ages to achieve personal goals that contribute to quality of life in domains such as education, health, wellbeing, and empathy and engagement despite distance. Her work balances technical innovation and design with understanding the human psychology of engaging with social robots to maximize beneficial outcomes. She has authored the book Designing Sociable Robots, has published over 150 peer-reviewed articles She is an award-winning innovator, designer, and entrepreneur. She did her graduate work at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab, and received her doctorate in 2000 in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Event Timeslots (1)
Tue, Mar 7
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Social Robots: From Research to Commercialization