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Cynthia Breazeal Keynote @UbiComp 2021: Emotion, Social Robots, and a New Human-Robot Relationship

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Cynthia Breazeal

Cynthia Breazeal

Tuesday
September 21, 2021
10:00am ET

People have welcomed conversational AI technologies into our homes, workplaces, and institutions where we interact with them on a daily basis. The proliferation of digital assistants in a multitude of embodiments (e.g,. speakers, displays, avatars, robots) in human environments over extended periods of time provides us with new ways to investigate, develop and assess the design of personified AIs that emotionally engage and support people to promote human flourishing across a wide range of applications and usage contexts. In this talk, I highlight a number research projects where we are developing, fielding, and assessing social robots in homes, schools, and hospitals. We explore different embodiments and develop adaptive algorithmic capabilities for our robots to sustain interpersonal engagement and personalize to people’s needs to support novel interventions in education and emotional wellness. In addition to evaluating the impact of these capabilities and features on improving learning, sustaining engagement, nudging behavior, and shifting attitudes — we are also examining the nature of the relationship that people form with these personified AI technologies and how it contributes to these impacts. We conclude by reflecting on the ethical and responsible design of intelligent technologies that emotionally engage and build relationships with people.

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