Sociable Robots Design (Intelligent Robotics and Autonomous Agents)

Cynthia Breazeal presents her vision of the sociable robot of the future, a synthetic creature and not merely a sophisticated tool. The effort to make sociable robots is also a means for exploring human social intelligence and even what it means to be human. Breazeal defines the key components of social intelligence for these machines and offers a framework and set of design issues for their realization.

A sociable robot will be able to understand us, to communicate and interact with us, to learn from us and grow with us. It will be socially intelligent in a humanlike way. Eventually, sociable robots will assist us in our daily lives, as collaborators and companions. Because the most successful sociable robots will share our social characteristics, this blending of science, engineering, and art creates a lifelike quality that encourages people to treat Kismet, a nascent sociable robot she designed, as a social creature rather than just a machine.

Much of the book focuses on Kismet, and Breazeal offers a concrete implementation for it, incorporating insights from the scientific study of animals and people, as well as from artistic disciplines such as classical animation. The book includes a CD-ROM that shows Kismet in action.

The effort to make sociable robots is a means for exploring human social intelligence and even what it means to be human. Breazeal presents her vision of the sociable robot of the future, a synthetic creature and not merely a sophisticated tool. A sociable robot will be able to understand us, communicate and interact with us, learn from us and grow with us. It will be socially intelligent in a humanlike way and eventually assist us in our daily lives as collaborators and companions.

Breazeal defines the key components of social intelligence for these machines and offers a framework and set of design issues for their realization. Much of the book focuses on Kismet, a nascent sociable robot she designed, and Breazeal offers a concrete implementation for it, incorporating insights from the scientific study of animals and people, as well as from artistic disciplines. This blending of science, engineering, and art creates a lifelike quality that encourages people to treat Kismet as a social creature rather than just a machine. The book includes a CD-ROM that shows Kismet in action.

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