A Chat with Dr. Ross Mead: Researcher; Entrepreneur; Board of Directors for non-profit organizations, AI-LA and also KISS Institute for Practical Robotics; Founder and CEO of Semio about social robotics

This week, Stephen Ibaraki has an exclusive interview with Dr. Ross Mead.

Dr. Ross Mead is the Founder and CEO of Semio, a Los Angeles-based software startup defining the way in which people will live, work, and play with robots in their everyday lives. Dr. Mead received his PhD and MS in Computer Science from the University of Southern California in 2015, and his BS in Computer Science from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in 2007.

His research focuses on social robotics, specifically, on the principled design and computational modeling of fundamental social behaviors (e.g., speech, gestures, eye gaze, social spacing, etc.) that serve as building blocks for autonomous face-to-face human-robot interactions. His research provides the foundations upon which Semio software is being built.

Beyond Semio, Dr. Mead serves on the Board of Directors for two nonprofit organizations: AI LA to promote artificial intelligence in the Los Angeles community; and the KISS Institute for Practical Robotics to promote robotics and STEM in K-12 education around the globe; with a focus on underrepresented populations. In 2018, he co-founded the Social Robot Community Slack team to spark an international community around robotics and natural language technologies. Previously, Dr. Mead also served as a technical and scientific advisor to Disney, Intel, and National Geographic, among others.

TO WATCH THE VIDEO INTERVIEW, CLICK ON THIS MP4 file link