Julie Shah
β’ Aeronautics & Astronautics Professor and Associate Dean at MIT, and leads the Interactive Robotics Group of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
β’ Author of 'What To Expect When You're Expecting Robots'
Julie Shah is an Associate Professor in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT and leads the Interactive Robotics Group of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Shah received her SB (2004) and SM (2006) from the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT, and her PhD (2010) in Autonomous Systems from MIT. Before joining the faculty, she worked at Boeing Research and Technology on robotics applications for aerospace manufacturing. She has developed innovative methods for enabling fluid human-robot teamwork in time-critical, safety-critical domains, ranging from manufacturing to surgery to space exploration. Her group draws on expertise in artificial intelligence, human factors, and systems engineering to develop interactive robots that emulate the qualities of effective human team members to improve the efficiency of human-robot teamwork. In 2020, she co-authored the book What To Expect When You're Expecting Robots: The Future of Human-Robot Collaboration.
Speech topics
THE FUTURE OF HUMAN-ROBOT COLLABORATION
Most robots are just tools. They do limited sets of tasks subject to constant human control. But a new type of robot is coming. These machines will operate on their own in busy, unpredictable public spaces. They'll ferry deliveries, manage emergency rooms, even grocery shop. Such systems could be truly collaborative, accomplishing tasks we don't do well without our having to stop and direct them.
This makes them social entities, so, as robot designer Julie Shah argues, whether they make our lives better or worse is a matter of whether they know how to behave.
In this talk, based on Julie's book What to Expect When You're Expecting Robots, she'll offer a vision for how robots can survive in the real world and how they will change our relationship to technology. From teaching them manners, to robot-proofing public spaces, to planning for their mistakes, this book answers every question you didn't know you needed to ask about the robots on the way.
Books
What To Expect When You're Expecting Robots: The Future of Human-Robot Collaboration
The next generation of robots will be truly social, but can we make sure that they play well in the sandbox?