The Albany Times Union ran this story based on an interview with Daniel Wilson in which he talks about Keepon and the videos we made together:

Further blurring the line between cuddly toy and robotic helper is the experimental Keepon, a mini-robot that resembles a couple of tennis balls with googly eyes that moves in response to its environment.

In a short promotional video for Carnegie Mellon, where researcher Marek Michalowski is using Keepon’s ability to synchronize its movements with people around to make it more engaging, Wilson himself snuggles up to a Keepon as it bops to music.

But the robot isn’t just a novelty: Keepon is being used to teach autistic children to make eye contact with others.

“That’s the thing about robots,” Wilson says. “You look at it and it’s neat, but there’s a long-winded explanation (of how and why it came to be developed). You always find a trail of technical papers following behind a robot, no matter how cute.”