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How to build emotionally-intelligent robots (with Cynthia Breazeal) | Pioneers of AI

About Cynthia

  • Pioneered social robotics; Kismet recognized as the world's first social robot
  • MIT Media Lab professor; founded and directs the Personal Robots Group
  • MIT Dean for Digital Learning; leads MIT RAISE on responsible AI education
  • AAAI Fellow; recipient of the George R. Stibitz Computer & Communications Pioneer Award
  • Founded Jibo; its robot made TIME's 2017 Best Inventions cover

| 36:06

Over the past several decades, the field of robotics has achieved remarkable milestones. Robots have been sent to Mars and to the deepest parts of the ocean. Cynthia Breazeal, a professor at the MIT Media Lab, believes there’s another frontier that robots should enter: our daily lives. As a pioneer in social robotics, Breazeal has devoted her career to developing socially and emotionally intelligent machines — robots that can serve as learning partners in classrooms and even assist in navigating mental health challenges. She joins Pioneers of AI to discuss how social robots can coexist with humans, explore the applications of the robots she’s developing, and explain why AI literacy is more important than ever.

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How to build robots that can live alongside us
MIT Media Lab’s Cynthia Breazeal
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MIT Media Lab’s Cynthia Breazeal