To Kickstart This Blog

Do you like robots? Dr. Cynthia Breazeal from MIT certainly does. But not your typical, automatronic robots. She wants intelligent ones, the kind of robot that can think and interact with people on an emotional level that is on par with human babies.

Her first robot was a huge clunky thing named Cog, who was being designed in the mid-nineties by MIT to resemble human activity, like following something in motion with its cameras. During the process, Dr. Breazeal was struck with the idea of making a robot even more human. One that could react and respond to facial movements, tone of voice, and relay similar interactions to the person. After long years of research and construction, she debuted Kismet to the world in the late nineties.

This funky looking guy is Kismet. He's only a head, but with expressive pieces that had never been on a robot before. His eyebrows, mouth, and ears could all waggle to indicate various expressions and emotions. To make him learn like an infant, Cynthia gave him three basic functions: the desire to interact with people, the desire to play with brightly colored toys, and the need to rest.

He was a big hit, and she used what she learned to make better versions. Now she has all kinds of cool stuff going on. There's something that looks like a Furby and a teddy bear and this really cool doll. And that's just the start. She plans on continuing to work on robots for as long as she can.

I have to admit, I like her a lot more than some other scientists. Why? She's from New Mexico (like me!), loves to read science fiction, and her favorite movie robots are R2-D2 and C-3PO. Is that cool or what?

Sources:
MIT Profile
TED Talk Profile
PBS Nova Profile