Cynthia Breazeal is a professor at the MIT Media Lab, where she founded and directs the Personal Robots Group. She is also Associate Director of the Media Lab and spearheads MIT’s K-12 AI Literacy initiative in collaboration with Open Learning and the Schwarzman College of Computing. A pioneer in the field of social robotics and human-robot interaction, she is author of the book Designing Sociable Robots.
Breazeal was the founder, chief scientist, and chief experience officer of the mass consumer home robotics startup Jibo. Her trailblazing robot received numerous design and innovation awards and recognition by CES (Consumer Electronics Show), Fast Company, Core 77, and TIME Magazine’s “Best Inventions of 2017,” where Jibo was featured on the cover.
Breazeal has been recognized as an AAAI Fellow and has been awarded the George R. Stibitz Computer & Communications Pioneer Award. She has spoken at prestigious venues such as TED, CES, SXSW, the World Economic Forum, and the United Nations. Globally recognized as an award-winning innovator, designer, and entrepreneur, her work has been recognized by the National Academy of Engineering, the National Design Awards, Technology Review’s TR100/35 Award. She received her doctorate from MIT in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in 2000.
