(for the more traditionally-minded, here you can find my biography and CV)
Early Inspirational Figures: Gyro Gearloose
Since my early youth, after having deconstructed many toy pianos in order to expose their functional secrets (following extended improvisational performances), and while spending most of my days designing universes made from LEGO's, one inspirational figure was standing above all others for me: GYRO GEARLOOSE, the famous inventor in the Mickey Mouse series, together with his inseperable friend, the LITTLE HELPER, who acted as his mechanical helping hand:
Given such inspiratory heroes of my youth, I couldn't help but trying to impersonate them as an adult:
And this is pretty much what I now do at the Media Lab! I became the avatar of Gyro, while I'm trying to get Ripley the robot to become a conversational helping hand, i.e. the avatar of the Little Helper... :-) And I find no better way to help Ripley help me, than by building his mental models of the world, and thus letting what is out there enter his mind.
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