Who is Frances Donald?

Frances Donald is a person who helps make computers and robots understand people better.

Imagine you're playing with a toy robot that can talk and walk, but it doesn't know what "hello" means, it just hears the words. Frances Donald helps teach the robot what "hello" really means, so when someone says it, the robot knows to wave or say something back.

She does this by using math and code, which are like special languages that computers speak. It’s a bit like learning how to translate from one language to another, but instead of Spanish to English, it's human speech to computer thinking.

Frances Donald uses real-life examples and clever ways to test if the robot understands what people say. She's kind of like a teacher for robots, helping them get better at listening and responding in fun, everyday situations.