“The robot is a part of me. The robot is my smarts, my knowledge, basically how I do things. And that’s so cool because it’s like having a piece of me on Mars”
― Ayanna Howard
Ayanna Howard is the Motorola Foundation Professor in the
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Georgia Institute of
Technology. She received her B.S. in Engineering from Brown University, her
M.S.E.E. from the University of Southern California, and her Ph.D. in
Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California in 1999. Her
area of research is centered around the concept of humanized intelligence, the
process of embedding human cognitive capability into the control path of
autonomous systems. This work, which addresses issues of autonomous control as
well as aspects of interaction with humans and the surrounding environment, has
resulted in over 180 peer-reviewed publications in a number of projects – from
scientific rover navigation in glacier environments to assistive robots for the
home.
To date, her unique accomplishments have been highlighted
through a number of awards and articles, including highlights in USA Today,
Upscale, and TIME Magazine, as well as being named a MIT Technology Review top
young innovator of 2003, recognized as NSBE Educator of the Year in 2009, and
receiving the Georgia-Tech Outstanding Interdisciplinary Activities Award in
2013. In 2013, she also founded Zyrobotics, which is currently licensing
technology derived from her research lab and has released their first suite of
educational technology products
From 1993-2005, Dr. Howard was at NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, California Institute of Technology. Following this, she joined
Georgia Tech in July 2005 and founded the Human-Automation Systems Lab. She is
currently the Associate Director of Research for the Georgia Tech Institute for
Robotics and Intelligent Machines. Prior to that, she served as Chair of the
multidisciplinary Robotics Ph.D. program at Georgia Tech for three years from
2010-2013.
TED Conference Presentation by Ayanna Howard:
Highlights: