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Rosalind Picard

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Rosalind Picard at the Veritas Forum Science, Faith, and Technology session on "Living Machines: Can Robots Become Human?"

Rosalind W. Picard (born May 17, 1962 in Massachusetts) is director of the Affective Computing Research Group at the MIT Media Lab, and co-director of the Things That Think Consortium. Picard is the author of Affective Computing, published in 1997. In 2005, she was named a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

Academics

Professor Picard holds a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering and a certificate in computer engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology (1984), and master's (1986) and doctorate degrees (1991), both in electrical engineering and computer science, from MIT. Her thesis was titled Texture Modeling: Temperature Effects on Markov/Gibbs Random Fields. She has been a member of the faculty at the MIT Media Laboratory since 1991, with tenure since 1998 and a full professorship since 2005.

Picard is a researcher in the field of affective computing and the founder and director of the Affective Computing Research Group at the MIT Media Lab. The Affective Computing Research Group develops tools, techniques, and devices for sensing, interpreting, and processing emotion signals that drive state-of-the-art systems which respond intelligently to human emotional states. The key aspect that Picard focuses on in her research is not in the difference between "excited" and "calm" emotions, but in the difference between "excited-happy" and "excited-angry-or-upset", which are complicated for a computer to determine.

Applications of their research include improved tutoring systems and assistive technology for use in addressing the verbal communications difficulties experienced by individuals with autism.

Affective Computing

While working in the field of affective computing, Picard published Affective Computing. MIT's press release for Picard's textbook states, "According to Rosalind Picard, if we want computers to be genuinely intelligent and to interact naturally with us, we must give computers the ability to recognize, understand, even to have and express emotions."

Picard explains the need to monitoring emotional cues and how this is present with humans when she states:

"Whatever his strategy, the good teacher detects important affective cues from the student and responds differently because of them. For example, the teacher might leave subtle hints or clues for the student to discover, thereby preserving the learner's sense of self-propelled discovery. Whether the subject matter involves deliberate emotional expression as is the case with music, or is a "non-emotional" topic such as science, the teacher that attends to a student's interest, pleasure, and distress is perceived as more effective than the teacher that proceeds callously. The best teachers know that frustration usually precedes quitting, and know how to redirect or motivate the pupil at such times. They get to know their student, including how much distress that student can withstand before learning breaks down."

But such emotional cues are not part of robotic intelligence.

In order to portray how such a recognition would alter interactions with robots, Picard gave an example situation:

Imagine your robot entering the kitchen as you prepare breakfast for guests. The robot looks happy to see you and greets you with a cheery "Good morning." You mumble something it does not understand. It notices your face, vocal tone, smoke above the stove, and your slamming of a pot into the sink, and infers that you do not appear to be having a good morning. Immediately, it adjusts its internal state to "subdued," which has the effect of lowering its vocal pitch and amplitude settings, eliminating cheery behavioral displays, and suppressing unnecessary conversation. Suppose you exclaim, "Ow!!" yanking your hand from the hot stove, rushing to run your fingers under cold water, adding "I can't believe I ruined the sauce." While the robot's speech recognition may not have high confidence that it accurately recognized all of your words, its assessment of your affect and actions indicates a high probability that you are upset and maybe hurt.

In such a situation, it is necessary for the robots to understand the emotional aspects of humans in order to better serve their intended purpose.

This work has influenced many fields beyond computer science, ranging from video games to law. One critic, Aaron Sloman, described the book as having a "bold vision" that will inspire some and irritate others. Other critics emphasize the importance behind the work as it establishes an important framework for the field as a whole. Picard responded to Sloman's review by saying, "I don’t think the review captures the flavor of the book. However, he does raise interesting points, as well as potential misunderstandings, both of which I am grateful for the opportunity to comment on."

Autism research

Besides researching robotic intelligence, Picard has performed research in the field of autism. Her team uses an "ESP", or "emotional­-­social intelligence prosthesis", which is a tool that allows a person with autism to monitor their own facial reactions in order to educate them on social cues in others. This device has a 65% accuracy rate for reading the emotional state of an individual. She revealed parts of this technology at the 11th Annual International Symposium on Wearable Computers.

Faith

Picard is a practicing Christian, and has stated that her work in the field of affective computing, examining the complexity and functioning of the human mind, has greatly influenced her faith.

Picard is one of 514 signatories of the Discovery Institute's controversial petition promoting intelligent design by attempting to cast doubt on modern evolutionary theory, "A Scientific Dissent From Darwinism."

In a 2007 interview she raised the idea of a "greater mind" making some intervention beyond random processes in the complexity of DNA, but expressed reservations about intelligent design, saying that people of faith should challenge it and be more skeptical.

Awards

  • Georgia Engineering Foundation Fellowship(s) 1980, 81, 82, 83
  • Society of Women Engineers: “The Outstanding Woman Engineering Student” 1981, 82, 83, 84
  • National Science Foundation Fellow 1984
  • AT&T Bell Laboratories “One Year On Campus” Fellow 1984
  • Georgia Institute of Technology Department of Electrical Engineering Faculty Award 1984
  • Voted Omicron Delta Kappa, Georgia Tech and Southeast U. S. “Leader of the Year” 1984
  • AAUW “The Outstanding Georgia Institute of Technology Woman Graduate” 1984
  • IAPR Pattern Recognition Society Best Paper Prize (with Tom Minka) 1991
  • GA Tech College of Engineering “Outstanding Young Engineering Alumni Award” 1995
  • NEC Career Development Chair in Computers and Communications 1992, 96
  • Assoc. of American Publishers, Inc. Computer Science Book Award, (Hon. Mention) 1997
  • Senior Member of IEEE 2000
  • ICALT 2001 Best Theory Paper Prize (with Rob Reilly and Barry Kort) 2001
  • Creapole’s Committee of Honour (Paris) 2002
  • Fellow of IEEE 2004
  • Chamblee High School Hall of Fame 2005
  • Groden Network Distinguished Honorees, Research Award 2008

Contributions

Bibliography
  • R. W. Picard, Affective Computing, MIT Press, 1997.
  • R. W. Picard, F. Liu, R. Zabih, G. Healey, and M. Swain (Eds.) “Content-Based Access of Image and Video Libraries,” Proceedings of IEEE Workshop, IEEE Computer Society. 1997.
  • J. Tao, T. Tan, and R. W. Picard (Eds.), Affective Computing and Intelligent Interaction 2005, Lecture Notes in Computer Science 3784, 2005. Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg 2005.
  • A. Paiva, R. Prada, and R. W. Picard (Eds.), Affective Computing and Intelligent Interaction 2007, Lecture Notes in Computer Science 4738, 2007. Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg 2007.
Notable Articles
  • T.P. Minka and R.W. Picard (1997), "Interactive Learning Using a 'Society of Models,'" Pattern Recognition, Volume 30, No. 4, pp. 565-581, 1997. (Winner of 1997 Pattern Recognition Society Award)
  • B. Kort, R. Reilly and R.W. Picard (2001), "An Affective Model of Interplay Between Emotions and Learning: Reengineering educational Pedagogy-Building a Learning Companion," In Proceedings of International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies (ICALT 2001), August 2001, Madison, WI. (Winner of Best Paper Prize.)
Patents/Patents Pending
  • “Method and Apparatus for Relating and Combining Multiple Images of the Same Scene or Object(s)” U.S. Patent 5,706,416. Issued January 6, 1998. (With Steve Mann.)
  • “Sensing and Display of Skin Conductivity” U.S. Patent 6415176. Issued July 2, 2002. (With Jocelyn Scheirer, Nancy Tilbury and Jonathan Farringdon.)
  • “System and Method for Determining a Workload Level of a Driver” (With Walton L. Fehr, Judith L. Gardner and John R. Hansman) Docket No. IS01739AIC

References

  1. ^ "Media Lab Faculty Biography". MIT Media Lab. Retrieved 2008-05-05.
  2. ^ "Publication of Affective Computing". MIT Press. Retrieved 2008-05-05.
  3. "2005 Fellows". IEEE Boston. 2005. Retrieved 2008-05-05.
  4. "Faculty members awarded tenure". MIT News Office. 2005-06-01. Retrieved 2008-05-05.
  5. "Research Projects of the Affective Computing Research Group". MIT. Retrieved 2008-05-05.
  6. Lacy, Hester (May 16, 1999). "On your wavelength". The Independent. Retrieved 2008-05-05.
  7. "Affective Computing Group web page". MIT. Retrieved 2008-05-05.
  8. "Affective Computing Group - Current and Past Projects". MIT. Retrieved 2008-05-05.
  9. Picard, Rosalind. Affective Computing. MIT Press, 1997. p. 93-94
  10. http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Affective_computing (article by R.Picard)
  11. Binkley, Timothy (1998), "Autonomous Creations: Birthing Intelligent Agents", Leonardo, 31 (5): 336
  12. Huang, Peter H. (January 2002), "International Environmental Law and Emotional Rational Choice", The Journal of Legal Studies, 31 (1): S245
  13. Sloman, Aaron (1999), Review of Affective Computing, AI Magazine
  14. Diehl, Stanford (February 2008). "Book Review: A Computer to Love". Byte. Retrieved 2008-05-05.
  15. Picard, Rosalind (1999), Response to Sloman’s Review of Affective Computing, Volume 20 Number 1, AI Magazine {{citation}}: line feed character in |title= at position 28 (help)
  16. Nasr, Susan (November 2006). "Help for Autism: A new device teaches the interpretation of facial cues". MIT. Retrieved 2008-05-05.
  17. Schuessler, Jennifer (December 2006). "The Social-Cue Reader". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-05-05.
  18. Wertheimer, Linda (October 8, 2007). . The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2008-05-05.
  19. Harvey Blume (1998-04-29). "A Function Specific to Joy". The Atlantic Monthly. Retrieved 2008-05-05.
  20. "Personal homepage of Rosalind W. Picard". MIT. Retrieved 2008-05-05.
  21. "Signatories of 'A Scientific Dissent From Darwinism'" (PDF). The Discovery Institute. April 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-05.
  22. Kenneth Chang (2006-02-21). "Few Biologists but Many Evangelicals Sign Anti-Evolution Petition". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-05-05.
  23. "Faith - A scientist who embraces God". The Record.com. Retrieved 2008-05-05.
  24. "Publications in Affective Computing". MIT. Retrieved 2008-05-05.

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