Robo World: The Story of Robot Designer Cynthia Breazeal Book

Cynthia Breazeal is a creature creator. Armed with electronic gadgets, software programs, and her endless imagination, she creates lifelike machines that can respond to the world around them. Cynthia Breazeal is a roboticist, a scientist who designs, builds, and experiments with robots. As a child, she relied on movies to see robots in action. Now robots are part of her daily life at the MIT Media Lab. There, she and her students use their computer science and engineering skills to work on marvels like Leonardo, a robot that interacts with people in ways that seem almost human. Cynthias other world-famous projects include Kismet, an emotionally intelligent robot that smiles, frowns, and babbles like a baby. Why create robots like these? Cynthia can picture a future where sociable robots exist to benefit people. She works hard every day to turn that dream into a reality. Firsthand accounts from Cynthia and from those who know her best combine to tell the inspiring story of a curious, sports-loving girl who went on to become a worldclass roboticist. Robo World is also a Captivating story of high-tech invention where the stuff of science fiction becomes real in today's labs.

School Library Journal

Gr 6-10-Engaging career biographies of contemporary scientists. Each volume offers a background profile of the woman, including her childhood interests. The sections about their early lives will pull readers into the books and help them related to these budding scientists. Once the biographical information is laid out, the individuals' career arcs are profiled. For example, France is active with the Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Teams (DMORT) that helped excavate the 9/11 rubble. The books are well written and punctuated with full-color photographs from the women's personal albums, showing their honors and awards as well as their growing-up stages. Illustrations also include scientific diagrams and charts related to their research. As these women are currently on the job, their historical impact is not yet known. However, the fine writing and inspiring work of the scientists will reward those students who choose to read these books.-Cass Kvenild, University of Wyoming, Laramie Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.