Robots have seized media and consumer interest in recent years, from the optimistic ‘how robots will help us be a more productive, connected society’ to the sensationalized Hollywood theme of robots taking over the world, yet little has been said about taking the next step to creating a new relationship between people and robots: helpful companionship. Think of the qualities in a friend – empathy, playfulness and fun. In this talk, MIT social roboticist Cynthia Breazeal will share how Jibo, an attentive and expressive home helper, and social robots are creating space for humanized engagement with technology that makes consumers feel as if they’re interacting with someone, and not something.