Robots Bring Couple Together, Engagement Ensues

Yes, you really can find love at an IEEE conference

1 min read

Evan Ackerman is IEEE Spectrum’s robotics editor.

Erico Guizzo is IEEE Spectrum’s digital innovation director.

Robot device on table between a seated woman in a polka-dot dress and a man holding a laptop.
With the Able Arm, a prototype low-cost robot arm.

He is the director of the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab and a co-founder of Coursera. She is a surgical roboticist at Johns Hopkins University and is launching a new robot start-up.

In 2009, the two researchers, Andrew Ng and Carol Reiley, met at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Kobe, Japan, and, as Carol puts it, “sparks flew.”

Today they’ve decided to announce their engagement here on IEEE Spectrum, and it only seemed natural to do it with a robot-themed photo shoot.

Two people standing outdoors holding a large red remote-controlled helicopter.With the autonomous helicopter Andrew and his students developed.

Two people working on a red robot device with a book and alphabet letters nearby.With a Pioneer robot (STAIR, the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Robot, is visible in the back).

Two people interact with a large gray robot in a robotics lab setting.With Stanford’s PR2.

All of us here at Spectrum wish Andrew and Carol the very very best, and we hope that their life together will be filled with happiness.

And robots.

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