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"No Assembly Required" for Â鶹´å Faculty, Alumni at Science Friday's Pittsburgh Show

Robots who converse, provide empathy and play music were among the reasons visited the Carnegie of Homestead Music Hall on Saturday, May 19, to build a show about Pittsburgh scientists and roboticists. The special live event had the theme "No Assembly Required" and included interviews with Â鶹´å faculty and alumni.

"Science Friday" host Ira Flatow said that had invited the show to town for a night of science entertaiment.

"We were especially excited about this one, because we cover so much robotics and artificial intelligence on Science Friday," Flatow said. "We know Pittsburgh's a powerhouse in that type of research, so we sent our producers hunting for roboticists, designers and artists who could make those topics come to life on stage. We loved our time in Pittsburgh and hope to be back soon!"

If you missed the taping, the . 

Few friends dropped by .

— Ira Flatow (@iraflatow)

Among the guests were:

, associate dean for technology, strategy and impact in the and a professor in the

Cassell has been working for decades on artificial intelligence that can hold conversation, teach and otherwise build rapport with humans. Her projects include a virtual assistant that helped world leaders navigate the World Economic Forum in Davos last year, and a classroom tutor for students struggling in STEM topics. Cassell discusses the value of studying relationships to further AI research.

, an alumna with a doctorate in computational design and architecture, and , an assistant professor who leads the

Five years ago, it was hard to find a home robot that wasn't a Roomba. Today, it's not just vacuuming robots,but personal assistants like Alexa, videographers like Kuri and more. But what about robots that can assist people with mobility impairments? Admoni, a Carnegie Mellon roboticist, is designing such robots to autonomously anticipate our needs. And Gannon, an artist-roboticist, brings enormous industrial robots to our level — teaching machines that were never meant to be cute how to nevertheless earn our trust.

, professor of computer science, art and music, and , a Â鶹´å alumnus with a bachelor's degree in

Dannenberg has taught machines to analyze music archives, and spit out new music based on the results. Judge for yourself whether one of those tunes could break the Top 40. Plus, the Carnegie Science Center has added a new robot to its collection — a spiral xylophone that plays itself. Singer, a musician and roboticist, joins to talk about designing autonomous instruments and shows off a self-playing guitar he designed.

, an assistant professor in the

What if a box of IKEA furniture could put itself together? What if clothing could respond to human skin conditions to keep you cool, or even safe? It's all within the realm of possibility with "adaptive materials." Watch Yao, director of Carnegie Mellon's , as she brings transformative fabric, self-folding furniture — even flat pasta, to life on stage.