Making life friendlier with personal robots

Sharifa Alghowinem, a research scientist in the Media Lab's Personal Robots Group, poses with Jibo, a friendly robot companion developed by Professor Cynthia Breazeal. "As a child, I wished for a robot that would explain others' emotions to me" says Sharifa Alghowinem, a research scientist in the Media Lab's Personal Robots Group (PRG). Growing up in Saudi Arabia, Alghowinem says she dreamed of coming to MIT one day to develop Arabic-based technologies, and of creating a robot that could help herself and others navigate a complex world. In her early life, Alghowinem faced difficulties with understanding social cues and never scored well on standardized tests, but her dreams carried her through. She earned an undergraduate degree in computing before leaving home to pursue graduate education in Australia.