Sharifa Alghowinem, a analysis scientist within the Media Lab’s Private Robots Group, poses with Jibo, a pleasant robotic companion developed by Professor Cynthia Breazeal. Credit: Gretchen Ertl

By Dorothy Hanna | Division of Mechanical Engineering

“As a toddler, I needed for a robotic that may clarify others’ feelings to me” says Sharifa Alghowinem, a analysis scientist within the Media Lab’s Private Robots Group (PRG). Rising up in Saudi Arabia, Alghowinem says she dreamed of coming to MIT someday to develop Arabic-based applied sciences, and of making a robotic that would assist herself and others navigate a posh world.

In her youth, Alghowinem confronted difficulties with understanding social cues and by no means scored effectively on standardized assessments, however her goals carried her by means of. She earned an undergraduate diploma in computing earlier than leaving residence to pursue graduate training in Australia. On the Australian Nationwide College, she found affective computing for the primary time and commenced working to assist AI detect human feelings and moods, however it wasn’t till she got here to MIT as a postdoc with the Ibn Khaldun Fellowship for Saudi Arabian Ladies, which is housed within the MIT Division of Mechanical Engineering, that she was lastly capable of work on a expertise with the potential to elucidate others’ feelings in English and Arabic. At present, she says her work is so enjoyable that she calls the lab “my playground.” 

Alghowinem can’t say no to an thrilling undertaking. She discovered one with nice potential to make robots extra useful to folks by working with Jibo, a pleasant robotic companion developed by the founding father of the Private Robots Group (PRG) and the social robotic startup Jibo Inc., MIT Professor and Dean for Digital Studying Cynthia Breazeal. Breazeal’s analysis explores the potential for companion robots to go far past assistants who obey transactional instructions, like requests for the every day climate, including objects to purchasing lists, or controlling lighting. On the MIT Media Lab, the PRG crew designs Jibo to make him an insightful coach and companion to advance social robotics applied sciences and analysis. Guests to the MIT Museum can expertise Jibo’s charming character.

Alghowinem’s analysis has centered on psychological well being care and training, usually working with different graduate college students and Undergraduate Analysis Alternative Program college students within the group. In a single research, Jibo coached younger and older adults by way of constructive psychology. He tailored his interventions based mostly on the verbal and non-verbal responses he noticed within the individuals. For instance, Jibo takes within the verbal content material of a participant’s speech and combines it with non-verbal data like extended pauses and self-hugs. If he concludes that deep feelings have been disclosed, Jibo responds with empathy. When the participant doesn’t disclose, Jibo asks a mild observe up query like, “Are you able to inform me extra?” 

One other undertaking studied how a robotic can successfully assist high-quality father or mother and youngster interactions whereas studying a storybook collectively. A number of PRG research work collectively to be taught what kinds of knowledge are wanted for a robotic to grasp folks’s social and emotional states.

Analysis Scientist Sharifa Alghowinem (left) and visiting college students Deim Alfozan and Tasneem Burghleh from Saudi Arabia’s Prince Sultan College, work together with Jibo. Credit: Gretchen Ertl

“I want to see Jibo turn into a companion for the entire family,” says Alghowinem. Jibo can tackle completely different roles with completely different relations similar to a companion, reminding elders to take medicine, or as a playmate for youngsters. Alghowinem is particularly motivated by the distinctive position Jibo might play in emotional wellness, and enjoying a preventative position in melancholy and even suicide. Integrating Jibo into every day life gives the chance for Jibo to detect rising issues and intervene, appearing as a confidential useful resource or psychological well being coach. 

Alghowinem can also be obsessed with instructing and mentoring others, and never solely by way of robots. She makes positive to fulfill individually with the scholars she mentors each week and she or he was instrumental earlier this 12 months in bringing two visiting undergraduate college students from Prince Sultan College in Saudi Arabia. Aware of their social-emotional expertise, she labored laborious to create the chance for the 2 college students, collectively, to go to MIT so they might assist one another. One of many visiting college students, Tasneem Burghleh, says she was curious to fulfill the one who went out of her strategy to make alternatives for strangers and found in her an “limitless ardour that makes her need to cross it on and share it with everybody else.”

Subsequent, Alghowinem is working to create alternatives for youngsters who’re refugees from Syria. Nonetheless within the fundraising stage, the plan is to equip social robots to show the youngsters English language and social-emotional abilities and supply actions to protect cultural heritage and Arabic talents.

“We’ve laid the groundwork by ensuring Jibo can communicate Arabic in addition to a number of different languages,” says Alghowinem. “Now I hope we will discover ways to make Jibo actually helpful to children like me who want some assist as they discover ways to work together with the world round them.”