Cynthia Breazeal facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Cynthia Breazeal
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Breazeal in 2017
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| Born | November 15, 1967 Albuquerque, New Mexico, US
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| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | University of California, Santa Barbara (B.S., EECS, 1989) MIT (S.M., 1993; Sc.D., 2000) |
| Known for | Robotics, Jibo, and K-12 AI literacy |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Computer science, robotics |
| Doctoral advisor | Rodney Brooks |
Cynthia Breazeal is an American robotics expert and business person. She helped start a company called Jibo in 2012. This company made personal assistant robots. Cynthia was the main scientist and experience officer there.
Today, she is a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She leads the Personal Robots group at the MIT Media Lab. Her recent work looks at how we live with artificial intelligence (AI) every day. She studies how social robots change our lives over time.
Contents
Cynthia Breazeal's Early Life and Education
Cynthia's parents were both scientists. This meant she learned about computer science and engineering early on. She earned her first degree in electrical and computer engineering in 1989. This was from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Later, she earned two more degrees from MIT. She got her Master's in 1993 and her Doctor of Science in 2000. After seeing a NASA robot, she decided to focus on social robotics.
For her doctoral project, she created a robot named Kismet. Kismet was designed to show feelings and interact with people. You can see Kismet and other robots she helped make at the MIT Museum. These include Cog, a robot that looks like an upper body, and Hannibal, a robot that looks like an insect. In the early 2000s, she also worked on robots like Leonard, Aida, Autom, and Huggable.
Her Work at MIT
Cynthia Breazeal is a professor of Media Arts and Sciences at MIT. She started and leads the Personal Robotics group at the Media Lab. She has written books and many articles about robotics. She also helps guide many robot committees.
When she was growing up, Cynthia noticed that robots mostly interacted with objects. They didn't interact much with people. She realized that if robots could show human-like actions, people would see them as companions. They would feel more connected to them. She also explores how robots can help people who live far apart stay connected.
Cynthia is also a leader for the Bridge: MIT Quest for Intelligence. Here, she helps bring AI learning to schools. Her work focuses on "living with AI." This means studying how social robots fit into our daily lives. The goal is for AI to offer support and companionship to people.
In 2022, Cynthia became the dean for digital learning at MIT. In this role, she helps grow MIT's online learning programs. She also looks for new ways to use technology to improve digital education.
Amazing Robot Inventions
Leonardo was one of her first robots. She worked on it with Stan Winston Studio. Leonardo was a follow-up to Kismet. Wired magazine called Kismet one of the "50 Best Robots Ever" in 2006. Leonardo helped researchers study how robots can understand human thoughts. It also helped robots learn by watching and being taught.
Another robot, Nexi, was named one of Time magazine's 50 Best Inventions of 2008. Nexi is a mobile, skilled, and social robot. It can move around and interact with people. This helps researchers study how humans and robots can work together better.
Cynthia's Personal Robots group has also designed many social robots. They have published work on how robots can help with education, psychology, and personal care.
Some social robots from her group include:
- Autom: This robot was a diet and exercise coach. It helped people stay motivated more than a computer program did. Autom was the first version of Mabu, a robot used in healthcare.
- MeBot: This robot helps people connect remotely. It was found that having a physical robot made people feel more involved than just using video calls.
- Huggable: This robot was made to help children in hospitals. It supports their emotional needs and helps child life specialists.
Cynthia also helped create a robotic flower garden called Cyberflora. It was shown at the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in 2003.
She was a consultant for the movie A.I. Artificial Intelligence in 2001. She also appeared as a virtual guest in the "Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination" exhibit. She talked with a real C-3PO robot in a pre-recorded message.
In 2003, MIT's Technology Review named her one of the top 100 innovators under 35. In 2020, she became a Fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence.
During the 2020 pandemic, Cynthia and her team launched a website. It had over 60 activities to help students learn STEM from home.
Jibo: The Family Robot
On July 16, 2014, Cynthia Breazeal started a fundraising campaign for Jibo. Jibo was marketed as the world's first family robot. She was the main scientist and experience officer for the company. Jibo quickly reached its funding goal. It was supposed to launch in 2015, then 2016, and finally came out in November 2017. The robot was designed to offer fun social experiences, like telling stories.
However, Jibo received many poor reviews. People compared it to cheaper and more powerful devices like Amazon Alexa and Google Home. The tools for developers to create apps for Jibo were never released. In December 2017, the company announced layoffs and closed soon after. Jibo had raised over $70 million before it shut down. Cynthia Breazeal has not made public comments about Jibo closing. In March 2020, another company, NTT Corporation, bought Jibo's assets. NTT plans to use Jibo in healthcare and education.
Awards and Special Recognition
In 2008, Cynthia received the Gilbreth Lectures Award. Her Nexi robot was named one of Time magazine's Best Inventions of 2008.
In 2014, Fortune magazine recognized her as one of the Most Promising Women Entrepreneurs. She also received the L'Oreal USA Women in Digital NEXT Generation Award. That same year, she won the George R. Stibitz Computer & Communications Pioneer Award. This was for her important work in social robotics and how humans and robots interact.
In 2015, Entrepreneur magazine named her one of the Women to Watch.
Jibo was featured on the cover of Time magazine's 25 Best Inventions of 2017.
Selected Works
Books
- Breazeal wrote a chapter in the book Architects of Intelligence: The Truth About AI from the People Building It. It was published in 2018. The book was written by Martin Ford. ISBN: 978-1-78-913151-2
