My academic robot project attracted a lot of press coverage at home and around the world. The excitement began slowly with my very first academic presentation of a short paper in California in March 2009. MIT’s Technology Review blog ran a story about my project, and for weeks following, other media outlets were contacting me for interviews.
In Calgary, the local Citytv station scheduled a lab visit to film me with my project, and invited me the very next day for a live interview on Breakfast Television.
The entire experience was quite exciting for me as well as my supervisors!
Full List of Press Coverage
- MIT’s Technology Review, “A Robot That Knows When To Back Off”, March 13, 2009. PDF
- The Raw Feed, “Modified Roomba robot feels your pain”, March 13, 2009. PDF
- Gizmodo, “Modified Roomba Detects Stress, Runs Away When It Thinks You Might Abuse It”, March 16, 2009. PDF
- BotJunkie, “Stress-Sensing Roomba Hides Under Bed When It Thinks You Might Kick It”, March 16, 2009. PDF
- Ubergizmo, “Modified Roomba Runs Scared When It Detects Stress”, March 16, 2009. PDF
- Engadget, “University of Calgary researchers teach little robots to be scared of angry humans”, March 17, 2009. PDF
- SlipperyBrick, “Modified Roomba detects stress, runs away from its abuser”, March 17, 2009. PDF
- IGN, “Teaching Robots To Fear”, March 17, 2009. PDF
- PSFK, “Designing Sensitive Robots”, March 17, 2009. PDF
- Geek.com, “Roomba robot detects stressed humans and avoids them”, March 18, 2009. PDF
- Engadget Japanese (in Japanese), March 18, 2009 PDF
- Pressetext, “Forscher lehren Roboter das Fürchten” (in German), March 19, 2009. PDF
- Technovelgy, “Roomba Detects Emotions Like HAL-9000”, March 19, 2009 PDF
- Gizmodo France, “Un Roomba modifié pour fuir les gens stressés” (in French), March 25, 2009 PDF
- Citytv, Your City – 6 PM News (Calgary), March 26, 2009
- Citytv, Breakfast Television (Calgary), March 27, 2009
- LiveScience, “Vacuum Cleaner Senses Human Emotions”, March 28, 2009 PDF
- Idealize.nl, “Stofzuigrobot reageert op menselijke emoties” (in Dutch), March 30, 2009 PDF
- Wired UK, “Robots taught to cower from grumpy humans”, March 30, 2009 PDF
- Wired, “Researchers Tweak Roomba to Respond to Emotions”, March 30, 2009 PDF
- Discover Magazine, “WonderVacuum Reads Your Mind, Cleans Your House”, March 31, 2009 PDF
- CBC Spark, “Roombas, Goodbye Emails and Facebook Mea Culpas”, MP3 (full) MP3 (shortened) April 1, 2009
- Toronto Star, “My future robot scares me now”, April 2, 2009
- KDKA 1020 Radio (CBS Pittsburgh), News Information Minute, MP3 April 3, 2009
- Telegraph-Journal, “Robot knows when you’re stressed”, April 6, 2009 PDF
- The Gauntlet (student newspaper), “Roombas, man’s new best friend”, April 9, 2009 PDF
- Philstar, “The sympathetic vacuum cleaner”, April 16, 2009 PDF
- Robaid, “Roomba senses owners emotions”, April 24, 2009 PDF
- CBC Radio (Saint John), “This Week’s Saint Johner Away”, MP3 June 23, 2009
- UNB.ca, “Programming for the love of it”, July 21, 2010 PDF