When you think of emotions, do you think of robots? This week’s Wednesday’s Women in STEM Series features Cynthia Breazeal, the woman who developed Kismet, the first humanoid robot to sense and respond to emotions and feelings.
As a 10 year old growing up in New Mexico, Breazeal was fascinated by the robots in Star Wars, particularly R2D2 and C3P0. She loved how they interacted with humans rather than just being machines that took commands. Her interests in robots continued and she received her doctorate in electrical engineering and computer science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It was here that she started working on Kismet, the first “social robot” that could interact with humans based on emotions. To do this, she relied not only on her engineering knowledge but had to learn about developmental psychology and human behaviors. She taught Kismet much like a parent teaches a child – by overly expressing facial and verbal ques.
Breazeal is also the founder of Jibo, the world’s first family robot. Jibo can take pictures, have a conversation, and act like a personal companion. Breazeal even designed Jibo with artificial intelligence to learn and adapt to different family members actions.
Cynthia Breazeal found a way to combine robotics and emotions by making the first humanoid robot and pioneering the field of “social robots.” If you designed a robot to help at home, what would yours do?