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MIT Media Lab / Personal Robots group

Personal Robots group

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MLVoices: Anastasia Ostrowski

Anastasia Ostrowski, a research assistant in the Personal Robots group, discusses her journey into the field of engineering.
Article Research

Cynthia Breazeal Assumes New Media Lab Role

Cynthia Breazeal has been promoted to full professor and named associate director of the Media Lab. Both appointments are effective July 1.
Post Research

Celebrating Teaching Assistants in MAS

During these uncertain times, we would like to thank the Teaching Assistants that helped make the transition to remote teaching.
Post Research

Meet the 2017 LEGO Papert Fellows

The LEGO Papert Fellowship program was officially launched in 2017.
Post Research

Family-Friendly Data Privacy + AI Activities: Interactive lessons to help kids learn and design with data privacy in mind

This is a unique time to engage and teach children about the benefits and limitations of technology.
Post Research

Media Lab research response to COVID-19

The Media Lab community brings creativity, expertise, and research to the pandemic
Article Research

Learning about artificial intelligence: A hub of MIT resources for K-12 students

New website offers a combination of learning units, hands-on activities, and mentor guides to foster AI literacy.
Post Research

MIT launches AI Education website

We understand that now, more than ever, the democratization of online learning is crucial to the success of students all around the world.
Post Research

Hacking Reality

XR technology is becoming increasingly important in a world where the need to know intersects with the need to experience.
Article Research

Kids can't be taught, but they love to learn

This talk was presented to a local audience at TEDxCoeurdalene, an independent event.
Article Research

New AI curriculum designed for middle school students

A new curriculum has been designed by MIT researchers and collaborators to teach middle school students about artificial intelligence.
Article Research

Getting smart about artificial intelligence

The University of South Carolina profiles its alum Blakeley Payne, now a master’s student in the Personal Robots group.
Article Research

Bringing artificial intelligence into the classroom, research lab, and beyond

MIT Quest for Intelligence shares AI-focused UROP projects, including senior Nicole Thumma's work with the Personal Robots group.
Gallery Research

Design, Technology + Social Innovation Workshop 2020
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Media Lab @ Design, Technology + Social Innovation Workshop 2020

The following Media Lab students joined the MIT India Initiative in Mumbai for this workshop.
Post Research

Cybersecurity Badge Day 2020: Girl Scouts of Eastern MA focuses on data privacy and tech policy

The Personal Robots team collaborated with the Girl Scouts and the EMK Institute for the US Senate to teach 60 students about data privacy.
Post Research

IAP 2020

The 2020 MIT Independent Activities Period (IAP) runs from January 6–January 31.
Article Research

Teachers, the robots are coming. But that's not a bad thing

Can robots help teachers improve classroom learning?
Article Research

The Rise of Social Robots: How AI can help us flourish

"I don’t think that AI will have fulfilled its full potential unless it can help us unlock human potential.”
Article Research

Play this bingo game with your kids to teach them about AI

Designed at MIT and tested by kids ages 9 through 14, it shows how exposing kids to technology fosters their interest in STEM.
Article Research

Bringing artificial intelligence and MIT to middle school classrooms

MIT researchers and collaborators have developed an open-source curriculum to teach young students about ethics and artificial intelligence.
Post Research

Cynthia Breazeal elected as a Fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI)

The AAAI Fellows program recognizes individuals who have made significant, sustained contributions to the field of artificial intelligence.
Article Research

Discovering You: Engineering Your World - Hae Won Park

Labber Hae Won Park talks to NBC News Learn about how social robots can help children develop language skills.
Article Research

Will AI really transform education?

Promoters show off promising applications of the technology, but AI is not changing the world quite yet
Article Research

Students push to speed up artificial intelligence adoption in Latin America

To help the region catch up, students organize summit to bring Latin policymakers and researchers to MIT.
Article Research

Mabu the pint-sized robot wants to manage your health

Mabu is about the size of a kitchen appliance and assists with day-to-day healthcare needs through daily "conversations."
Article Research

Kids are surrounded by AI. They should know how it works.

A new curriculum that helps children understand how algorithms are designed will keep them safe and motivate them to help shape the future.
Article Research

MIT developed a course to teach tweens about the ethics of AI

Blakeley Payne and Cynthia Breazeal discuss Blakeley’s open source AI curriculum for middle school students.
Post Research

Robots, Gender, and the Design of Relational Technology

My latest research in Cynthia Breazeal's Personal Robots group has been on relational technology.
Article Research

Teaching kids the ethics of artificial intelligence

Cristina Quinn shares what she learned in a visit to the AI + Ethics summer camp run by Personal Robots group student Blakeley Payne.
Post Research

Social robots as social catalysts: Collaborating with older adults as design research partners

When they’re valued as design research partners, older adults feel empowered to contribute to technology design.
Article Research

Meet 'Huggable,' the robot bear who's helping hospitalized kids

Cynthia Breazeal, head of the Personal Robots group, and her collaborators talk to US News about Huggable.
Post Research

Voice Agent Interaction Study

The Personal Robots group is running a study from July 8-18, 2019 to understand how we can design interactive robot techno...
Article Research

Study: Social robots can benefit hospitalized children

Interacting with a robotic teddy bear invented at MIT boosted young patients’ positive emotions, engagement, and activity level.
Post Research

Generation AI: Teaching a new kind of tech savvy

This summer, the Personal Robots group will be hosting a week-long workshop at the MIT Media Lab to teach kids about AI and ethics!
Post Research

Randi Williams receives 2019 Unsung Hero Award

The Unsung Hero Award from the Office of Graduate Education recognizes students who have shown commitment and passion for the community.
Post People

2019 MIT Startup Showcase: Keynote Speakers

Hae Won Park, PhD, is a research scientist at the MIT Media Lab and a principal investigator of the Social Robot Companions Program....
Post Research

Agnes Cameron, Huili Chen, Devora Najjar, and Randi Williams honored as 2019 Graduate Women of Excellence

Congratulations to all of the honorees! We are so proud of you all.
Post Research

Media Lab research at CHI 2019

The following Media Lab groups and projects are represented at CHI 2019
Article Research

It's time to study machines the way we study humans

A paper introduces machine behavior: the interdisciplinary study of AI systems as a new class of actors with unique behavioral patterns.
Post Research

Cynthia Breazeal named Future Thinker 2019 at the German Innovation Awards

2019 marked the 10th anniversary of the awards.
Post Research

Announcing the 2019 LEGO Papert Fellows

The LEGO Papert Fellowships support three graduate students working at the intersection of creativity, play, learning, and new technology.
Article Research

Robots are becoming classroom tutors. But will they make the grade?

Mechanical mentors try to find their place as teacher’s helpers.
Article Research

Designing social robots for older adults

Researchers present a user-centered design approach to creating intelligent social technologies to empower and help older adults at home.
Post Research

Kids' relationships and learning with social robots

Last spring, you could find me every morning alternately sitting in a storage closet, a multipurpose meeting room, and a book nook beside...
Post Research

PopBots: A Hands-on STEAM platform for the AI generation

PopBots are programmable, intelligent social robots that play with children to help them learn about AI.
Article Research

These sleep engineers could help you hack your dreams

A group at MIT’s Media Lab known as the “Dream Team” thinks you can harness your unconscious mind with tech you can wear to bed.
Article Research

Teaching AI to preschoolers with Randi Williams

In the inaugural episode of the TWiML & AI Podcast’s Black in AI series, PhD student Randi Williams discusses her work with PopBots.
Post Research

Redesigning YouTube

Part of a curriculum on ethics in AI
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Students' justification for the goal of their redesigned YouTube recommendation algorithm. 

"},{"image":{"url":"https://dam-prod.media.mit.edu/x/2019/01/22/example1.jpeg"},"title":"Example Paper Prototype","caption":"

An example of a team's paper prototype. Students wanted to emphasize the age appropriateness of content with visible flags for each channel and recommended video.

"},{"image":{"url":"https://dam-prod.media.mit.edu/x/2019/01/22/example2.jpeg"},"title":"Example Paper Prototype","caption":"

Another paper prototype focused on developing a recommendation algorithm with the goal of providing age appropriate content. 

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Gallery Research

Redesigning YouTube

Middle school students reimagine the YouTube platform. Students consider the stakeholders in YouTube, the goal of the recommendation algo...
Post Research

Transitions, reflections, and welcome 2019

Instead of doing one "year in review" post, we invited the Lab community to reflect upon 2018 and what's coming up in 2019.
Article Research

Hae Won Park, Personal Robots Group: Social robots for long-term interaction

Hae Won develops interactive social machines that deeply personalize to their users through long-term interaction.
Post People

Transitions, data, and writing, too: A rhyming guide to my year in review

2018: A year defined by a PhD | A study, analyses, and a writing spree.
Article Research

An interview with Cynthia Breazeal: IEEE VIC Summit 2018

Cynthia Breazeal sits down for an interview with Glenn Zorpette at the 2018 IEEE Vision, Innovation, and Challenges Summit.
Article Research

Social robots will become family members in the homes of the future

Home robots won’t just be helpers and cleaners—they’ll be teachers and trainers, too.