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Robert Comedy: Heather Knight at TEDxCMU 2011

4,730 views · Published 16 June 2011 · 12:13 · Indexed 3 October 2026

Channel: TEDx Talks · 2011 · Science & Technology

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Heather Knight is conducting her doctoral research at the intersection of robotics and entertainment at Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute. She runs Marilyn Monrobot in New York, where she and her cohort create "charismatic machine performances." As she describes it: "In one example, robot and human actors will perform the same script and basic set of actions, but each time vary the emotional and social content of those interactions. This variation will ... allow the general public to craft and hone robot personalities."
Her installations have been featured at the Smithsonian-Cooper Hewitt Design Museum, LACMA, SIGGRAPH, PopTech and the Fortezza da Basso in Florence, Italy. Her past work also includes robotics and instrumentation at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, interactive installations with Syyn Labs (including the award- winning Rube Goldberg machine music video with OK Go), and sensor design at Aldebaran Robotics. She was recently named Assistant Director of Robotics at Humanity+.

Read more about her at http://www.ted.com/speakers/heather_knight.html

About TEDx, x = independently organized event
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)

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