Carol E. Reiley facts for kids

Carol Elizabeth Reiley (born 1982) is an American businesswoman, computer scientist, and model. She is a leader in creating robots that can be controlled from far away (called teleoperated) and robots that can work by themselves (called autonomous robots). These robots are used in many important areas like surgery, exploring space, helping in disasters, and even in self-driving cars.

Carol Reiley has worked for big companies like Intuitive Surgical, Lockheed Martin, and General Electric. She also helped start and was the president of a company called Drive.ai. Today, she leads a new healthcare company. She also advises the San Francisco Symphony and is a brand ambassador for Guerlain Cosmetics. Carol has written a children's book and was the first female engineer to be on the cover of MAKE magazine. She is recognized by magazines like Forbes and Inc. as a top entrepreneur and influential scientist.

Early Life and Learning

Carol Elizabeth Reiley was born in Flint, Michigan, in 1982. Her family later moved to Vancouver, Washington. Her dad is an engineer, and her mom was a flight attendant. Carol says they both inspired her interest in technology and helping people around the world. She has a younger brother who is also an engineer. Carol's parents are from Taipei, and she grew up speaking Mandarin at home.

First Inventions and Businesses

When Carol was eight, she invented a kind mousetrap to catch her pet hamster. At age ten, she started her first business. She was inspired by the Babysitters Club books. Her first job was at 15, on a local TV show called Homework Helpline. She helped students with math and English questions live on air.

College and Advanced Studies

Carol went to Santa Clara University for her bachelor's degree. She then studied at Johns Hopkins University, where she earned her master's degree. She also started a Ph.D. program focusing on computer vision and artificial intelligence. She spent a year at the Stanford University Artificial Intelligence Lab. Later, she decided to leave her Ph.D. program to start her own company in Silicon Valley.

Family Life

In 2014, Carol Reiley married Andrew Ng. They are known as an "AI power couple" by the MIT Tech Review. They have two children together.

Amazing Career Achievements

Carol Reiley has helped build many cool things. She worked on robotic systems for surgery at Intuitive Surgical. She also worked on space robots at Lockheed Martin. Later, she helped create self-driving cars at Drive.ai.

Teaching and Helping Others Learn

Carol was also a teacher at Johns Hopkins University. She taught courses on how touch feedback works in surgical robots and how to create apps for Facebook.

Starting New Companies

Carol is known as a serial entrepreneur, which means she starts many businesses. She is also an investor and helps others. She founded an education company called Squishybotz. She also wrote and published a children's book called Making a Splash in 2015. This book teaches kids about having a "growth mindset," which means believing you can always learn and improve.

In 2015, Carol co-founded Drive.ai and became its president. She was the first investor in the company, using money she had saved for her wedding. In 2018, she started a new company focused on healthcare.

Advising and Mentoring

Carol helps guide many organizations. She is on the technical advisory board for Harman Kardon. She also advises the engineering board at Santa Clara University. She invests in and advises several new companies. In 2018, she joined All Raise, a group that helps women and people from diverse backgrounds in tech. She also joined NEO, a group that connects tech leaders to mentor new talent.

Public Speaking and Writing

Carol has given two Ted Talks. She has also been a speaker at many big events, like the MIT Technology Review Conference and the World Government Summit. She has written articles for publications like IEEE Spectrum and Techcrunch.

Research and Discoveries

Carol's research focused on how humans and robots can work together better. She was chosen as a Computing Research Association Distributed Undergraduate Research Fellow.

Important Research Fellowships

From 2008 to 2010, Carol was a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow. This allowed her to research ways to improve how people and robots interact. She was also elected to the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society board from 2008 to 2009. She was the youngest person to serve on this board, helping to create important projects for thousands of graduate researchers.

Patents and Papers

As of 2018, Carol Reiley holds eight technical patents. A patent protects an invention, meaning others can't make or sell it without permission. She has also written more than a dozen papers that have been published in scientific journals and conferences.

A "Maker" and Innovator

Carol Reiley is known as a "DIY hacker," which means she loves to build things herself. She has shared many open-source tutorials, showing others how to make projects.

Creative Projects

One of her projects was a hack for the game Guitar Hero. She called it "Air Guitar Hero." It allowed people to play the game using electrical signals from their arm muscles. This was designed to help people who needed rehabilitation exercises. She also created a DIY blood pressure monitor system for use in developing countries. Carol has given keynote speeches at events like Maker Faire and the USA Science and Engineering Festival. Her 3D-printed designs have even been shown at the CES fashion show.

In 2011, Carol founded Tinkerbelle Labs. This company focused on helping hobbyists build low-cost DIY projects.

Arts, Fashion, and AI

Carol Reiley also has a strong connection to the arts and modeling.

Modeling and Media

In 2018, Carol became a spokesmodel for Guerlain and Harper's Bazaar China. She helped launch a new international beauty campaign. She has been featured in magazines like British Vogue, The New York Times, and Wired for her work in AI. When she was in graduate school, she worked as a commercial model for fashion companies. She was the first female engineer to be on the cover of Make magazine because of her contributions to the open-source community.

Music and AI

In 2018, Carol joined the San Francisco Symphony. She became a founding member of their creative advisory board. In 2020, she co-founded DeepMusic.ai with violinist Hilary Hahn. This organization uses AI to help make human creativity even better. Carol is the CEO of DeepMusic.ai.

Champion for Diversity

Carol Reiley is a strong supporter of diversity in engineering and AI. She believes it's important to have people from all backgrounds working in these fields.

Promoting Inclusion

At Johns Hopkins, she helped start the Graduate Women's Organization. She also served on the Whiting School of Engineering Diversity Board. At Santa Clara University, she helped create chapters for the Association for Computing Machinery and the Society of Women Engineering. She led events like the JHU Robotics Systems Challenge and Computer Mania Day workshops. These events helped thousands of students from diverse backgrounds learn about technology. She also published a study about how diverse middle and high school students were in robot competitions.

Awards and Recognition

Carol Reiley has received many awards for her work:

• Women's Entrepreneurship Day Science Pioneer Award at the United Nations (2023)
• Forbes Top 50 women in tech (2018)
• Quartz founder index (Ranked #18, 2018)
• Inc. Magazine Most Innovative Women Entrepreneurs (2017)
• Silicon Valley's Most Influential Women in 2016
• National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow (2008–2010)
• Society of Women Engineers top graduate award (2007)
• Computing Research Association Distributed Undergraduate Research Fellow (2003)

See also

In Spanish: Carol E. Reiley para niños