Building Robots with Presence: from the Conference Room to the Stage

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Speaker
Cynthia Breazeal
Director of the Robotic Presence Group, Media Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

When
-

Where
Wean Hall 7500

Description

There are a growing number of applications for robots that people can engage as capable creatures or as partners rather than tools, yet little is understood about how to best design robots that interact with people in this way. This talk surveys our group’s work in the area of human robot interaction (HRI) from the perspective of designing sociable autonomous robots. We present results from three HRI studies that investigate the impact of envelope displays on the performance of vocal turn-taking, the communication of affective intent in robot directed speech, and perceived social presence of robotic verses animated characters. These findings suggest that robots could serve as a particularly engaging and expressive communication media for new applications such as interactive robot theatre and robot avatars. A few of our early efforts in these domains are surveyed.

Speaker's Bio

Dr. Cynthia Breazeal directs the Robotic Presence Group at the MIT Media Lab. She has developed numerous autonomous robots, from planetary micro-rovers, to upper-torso humanoid robots, to highly expressive robotic faces. Always inspired by the behavior of living systems, scientific models and theories as well as artistic insights factor heavily into the hardware and software design of her robotic creations. Her current interests focus on human-robot interaction and socially situated learning between people and autonomous robots. She received her Sc.D. and S.M. degrees from MIT in the department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science with specialization in robotics and artificial intelligence.

Host
Sara Kiesler