Scientists try to make robots more human
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| Audience/Grade: | College Freshman-College Senior |
| Discipline(s): |
Electrical Engineering General Engineering, Engineering Science Mechanical Engineering Mechatronics |
| Special Topic(s): |
Engineering Photo Competition |
| Learning Resource Type: |
Reference - Article/Document |
| Media Type: |
Unknown |
| Author(s): |
Seth Borenstein |
| Description: | Article from USA Today on how robots are now taking realism to new levels. Photo caption: "Dr. Cynthia Breazeal plays with Kismet, the robot that mimics and responds to human emotions. Some roboticists study how humans think, work together and communicate so they can apply that to robots. This new field of human-robot interaction is led mostly by women." Excerpt from article: "George the robot is playing hide-and-seek with scientist Alan Schultz. George whirrs and hides behind a post until he's found. Then a bit later, he hunts for and finds Schultz hiding. If that sounds childish, consider that Schultz is working his way up to teaching the robot to play Capture the Flag. What's so impressive about robots playing children's games? For a robot to actually find a place to hide, and then hunt for its human playmate is a new level of human interaction. The machine must take cues from people and behave accordingly. This is the beginning of a real robot revolution: giving robots some humanity. "Robots in the human environment, to me that's the final frontier," said Cynthia Breazeal, robotic life group director at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "The human environment is as complex as it gets; it pushes the envelope." Robotics is moving from software and gears operating remotely � Mars, the bottom of the ocean or assembly lines � to finally working with, beside and even on people. "Robots have to understand people as people," Breazeal said. "Right now, the average robot understands people like a chair: It's something to go around." |
| Rating: |
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| Related Resources | |
| Keywords: | gender equity mechatronics robotics artificial intelligence |
| References: |
Cynthia Breazeal's Robotic Life Group at the MIT Media Lab |
| Referenced By: |
Friendly Robots - PBS Broadcast of Cynthia Breazeal's Research at MIT |
| Usage Tip | |
| Use of Resource: |
Great article about the new wave of robots with a more human interface. Also good female role models as researchers. |
| Difficulty: |
Very easy |
| Interactivity Level: |
Very low |
| Version Info | |
| Publication Date: | August 2007 |
| Platform/Format: |
WWW |
| Cost: |
Free |
| Download URL: | http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/robotics/2006-11-22-humanistic- |
| Metadata: |
IEEE LOM Record |
| Collection: |
NEEDS
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