Social Robots: From Research to Commercialization

The fields of Social Robotics and Human-Robot Interaction are undergoing rapid growth, motivated by important societal challenges facing the general public such as aging in place, healthcare, education, manufacturing, transportation, and much more. Such applications motivate the development of ever more intelligent and capable autonomous robots and technologies that can work collaboratively with people in human environments. In the consumer marketplace, intelligent conversational technologies are entering the home at a surprising rate as Internet of Things devices are enabled by AI-based SDKs. Affordable social robots are also poised to enter the market as mass consumer products and 3rd party developer platforms. The importance of developing and understanding the beneficial and longitudinal impact of such technologies on daily life never been more relevant. This keynote presentation highlights a number of provocative research findings from the Personal Robots Group at the MIT Media Lab along these themes. We develop social robots and apply them as a new kind of scientific tool to understand human behavior. We then use these insights to design and develop social robots that can longitudinally engage people to enhance quality of life outcomes. In this presentation, we highlight relevant work in healthcare and early childhood education.

Research in social robotics builds a critical foundation for real world applications. Social robots can be viewed as a new medium for content that is capable of humanized engagement. As such, social robots are a highly differentiated and compelling platform for 3rd party content and app developers. The entrepreneurial journey of bringing a social robot consumer product to market in the USA will also be discussed in the context of Jibo, Inc.