Nikolaos Mavridis

After my PhD at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab, where I enabled "Ripley", a conversational helping hand robot, to demonstrate abilities comparable to those require for a psychological test for 3-year old children, I have founded and I am directing the Interactive Robots and Media Laboratory (IRML) of the United Arab Emirates University , where I am also an Ass. Professor of Intelligent Systems. UAEU is situated next to Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and has been ranked as #2 in research in the Arab World. IRML is growing at a very fast pace, and is already the leading laboratory in Interactive Robots and Media in the region, hosting multiple leading-edge projects (the microsoft-funded "Facebots", "IbnSina" - the world's first Arabic-Speaking dialogic Android robot, Virtual Museum of the UAE etc.), which have been covered on TV and other worldwide media (BBC, AFP, UAE National etc.)

My goal is to catalyze education and research in my field in the region (the wider Middle East, including the Balkans and South Central Asia), to interconnect us with the world's leading institutions and figures, and to enable entrepreneurship as well as social service / cultural activities to grow and thus create a better future with peace, harmony, and sustainable growth and prosperity.