Cynthia Breazeal

Cynthia Breazeal
Breazeal in 2010
Born (1967-11-15) November 15, 1967
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Nationality United States
Alma mater University of California, Santa Barbara (B.S., EECS, 1989)
MIT (S.M., 1993; Sc.D., 2000)
Occupation Computer scientist, professor
Known for Robotics

Cynthia Lynn Breazeal (born November 15, 1967 in Albuquerque, New Mexico)[1] is an Associate Professor of Media Arts and Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she is the director of the Personal Robots Group (formerly the DRobotic Life Group) at the MIT Media Laboratory [2] and the co-director of the Center for Future Storytelling.[3] She is best known for her work in robotics where she is recognized as a pioneer of social robotics and human–robot interaction [4].

Biography

Cynthia Breazeal received her B.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1989,[5] her S.M. in 1993, and her Sc.D. in 2000 in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, both from MIT.

She developed the robot Kismet as a doctoral thesis under Rodney Brooks, looking into expressive social exchange between humans and humanoid robots. Kismet and some of the other robots Breazeal co-developed while a graduate student at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab can now be seen at the MIT Museum. Notable examples include the upper torso humanoid robot Cog and the insect-like robot Hannibal.

Research

At the Media Lab, Breazeal continues to work on social interaction and socially situated learning between people and robots. Leonardo is another globally recognized robot (co-developed with Stan Winston Studio) that was developed as a successor to Kismet (recognized in 2006 by Wired magazine as one of the "50 Best Robots Ever"[6]). Leonardo was also used to investigate social cognition and Theory of Mind abilities on robots with application to human-robot collaboration, in addition to developing social learning abilities for robots such as imitation, tutelage, and social referencing. Nexi[7] is the most recent robot in this tradition (named by TIME magazine among the 50 Best Inventions of 2008[8]). Nexi is a MDS robot (Mobile, Dexterous, Social) that combines rich social communication abilities with mobile dexterity to investigate more complex forms of human-robot teaming.

Other social robots developed in Breazeal's Personal Robots Group include Autom[9], a robot diet and exercise coach (the PhD thesis of Cory Kidd)[10]. It was found to be more effective than a computer counterpart in sustaining engagement and building trust and a working alliance with users. Autom is in the process of being commercialized (see Intuitive Automata[11]). Breazeal's group has also explored expressive remote presence robots (for example, MeBot and Huggable). The physical social embodiment of the MeBot was found to elicit greater psychological involvement, engagement, and desire to cooperate over purely screen-based video conferencing or a mobile screen.

Breazeal's Personal Robots Group has also done a number of design projects. Cyberflora was exhibited at the 2003 National Design Triennial[12] at the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum.

She is an Overseer at the Museum of Science in Boston, and she is on the Board of Advisors of the Science Channel. She served as a consultant on the movie I, Robot.[13]

She also has a prominent role as a virtual participant in a popular exhibit on robots with the traveling exhibit, Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination, interacting with a real C-3PO (voiced by Anthony Daniels as she spoke to the audience through a pre-recorded message displayed on a large plasma flat-screen display.

In 2003, she was named by the MIT Technology Review TR100 as one of the top 100 innovators in the world under the age of 35.[14]

On July 16, 2014, Breazeal launched an Indiegogo campaign to crowdfund the development of the JIBO personal assistant robot.[15] JIBO reached its initial fundraising goal and was due to launch in 2015, then later pushed to 2016,[16] before finally being released in November 2017.[17] On December 15, 2017 the company announced layoffs.[18] As of October 2018, she serves as the Founder and Chief Scientist of the company. [19]

Awards and Recognition

Breazeal is recognized as a designer and innovator on the national and global stage. She received the Gilbreth Lectures Award by the National Academy of Engineering in 2008. She has received an ONR Young Investigator Award and Technology Review’s TR100/35 Award, TIME magazine’s Best Inventions of 2008[20], and has been honored as finalist in the National Design Awards in Communication.

She has spoken at a number of prominent global events including the World Science Festival, the World Economic Forum, and TEDWomen. Breazeal is a featured scientist in the Women's Adventures in Science series (sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences).

In 2003, Breazeal was recognized as a Finalist in the National Design Awards in Communication at the White House. In 2014 she was recognized as an entrepreneur as Fortune Magazine’s Most Promising Women Entrepreneurs, and she was also a recipient of the L’Oreal USA Women in Digital NEXT Generation Award. The same year, she received the 2014 George R. Stibitz Computer & Communications Pioneer Award for seminal contributions to the development of Social Robotics and Human Robot Interaction [21].

Selected works

Books

  • Breazeal, Cynthia (2002). Designing Sociable Robots. The MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-02510-8.
  • Breazeal, Cynthia; Bar-Cohen, Yoseph (2003). Biologically Inspired Intelligent Robots. Bellingham, Washington: SPIE (The International Society for Optical Engineering). ISBN 0-8194-4872-9.

References

  1. ↑ "Cynthia Breazeal – Roboticist". National Academy of Sciences. Women's Adventures in Science. Archived from the original on July 6, 2010. Retrieved April 17, 2010.
  2. ↑ "MIT Media Lab".
  3. ↑ "Center for Future Storytelling | Research". cfs.media.mit.edu. Retrieved 2018-10-13.
  4. ↑ "Cynthia Breazeal".
  5. ↑ "Berazeal, Cynthia". Current Biography Yearbook 2011. Ipswich, MA: H.W. Wilson. 2011. pp. 89–92. ISBN 9780824211219.
  6. ↑ "The 50 Best Robots Ever". WIRED. Retrieved 2018-10-13.
  7. ↑ "Meet Nexi, the Media Lab's latest robot and Internet star". MIT News. Retrieved 2018-10-13.
  8. ↑ "Best Inventions of 2008 - TIME". TIME.com. Retrieved 2018-10-13.
  9. ↑ "Autom - Papers". Personal Robots Group. Retrieved 2018-10-13.
  10. ↑ Cory Kidd, Designing for Long-Term Human-Robot Interaction and Application to Weight Loss. January 2008. Ph.D. Media Arts and Sciences, MIT.
  11. ↑ "Intuitive Automata".
  12. ↑ Lupton, Eileen; Cooper-Hewitt Museum (2003). Inside design now : National Design Triennial. New York, N.Y.: : Princeton Architectural Press. ISBN 1568983948.
  13. ↑ "2014 Boston Researcher Cynthia Breazeal is ready to bring robotics into the home". Recode.
  14. ↑ "2003 Young Innovators Under 35". Technology Review. 2003. Retrieved August 16, 2011.
  15. ↑ "JIBO, World's First Family Robot. 4,800".
  16. ↑ "Jibo delayed to 2017 as social robot hits more hurdles". Slash Gear. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
  17. ↑ "New Jibo ship date drops social robot into Alexa's new world". SlashGear. 2017-10-26. Retrieved 2018-03-04.
  18. ↑ "Layoffs Hit Jibo More Than a Month After Social Robot's Launch". BostInno. Retrieved 18 December 2017.
  19. ↑ "https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=250574588". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2018-10-13. External link in |title= (help)
  20. ↑ "Best Inventions of 2008 - TIME". TIME.com. Retrieved 2018-10-13.
  21. ↑ "Cynthia Breazeal Biography".

Further reading

  • Brown, Jordan D. (2005). Robo World: The Story of Robot Designer Cynthia Breazeal. Women's adventures in science. New York: Franklin Watts. ISBN 0-531-16782-8.
  • Home page
  • Personal Robots Group MIT Media Lab.
  • Association for Computing Machinery Video Interviews with Cynthia Breazeal
  • "Profile: Cynthia Breazeal", PBS NOVA scienceNOW TV series, November 21, 2006.
  • iWASwondering.org - National Academy of Sciences sponsored website. Cynthia Breazeal featured on kids Website encouraging young people to pursue science.
  • "Cynthia Breazeal, on season 15, episode 10". Scientific American Frontiers. Chedd-Angier Production Company. 2005. PBS. Archived from the original on 2006.
  • "50 Best Robots Ever", Wired Magazine, January 2006.
  • "50 Best Inventions of 2008", TIME Magazine, 2008.
  • Cynthia Breazeal at TED Edit this at Wikidata
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