Not many people can list Jeopardy contestant, Pictionary champion, Disney Imagineer, and robot whisperer among their accomplishments, but Sam Spaulding has always allowed his curiosity to take the lead.

As a kid, he was the sort to ask “why?” and “why not?” in equal measure. He was constantly looking for new things to learn about, while at the same time finding plenty of ways to get himself into trouble. By the time he hit college, that combination of audacity and knowledge-seeking paid off, when he became the runner up in Jeopardy’s College Championship. A few months later, there was a new Jeopardy champion — IBM’s latest artificial intelligence, “Watson”.

Sam was fascinated by the idea of a robot winning the game. True to his bold nature, he reached out to the offices of the Watson creators and asked if he could join their team.

They said “no”. He didn’t have the skills needed to do the job, but they were supportive and encouraged him to keep at it. So he did.

He ended up getting his degree in computer science, and became more and more interested in both the similarities and the differences between a robot and a human mind. He decided to pursue his PhD in Media Arts & Sciences, where he could study technology, engineering, and robotics at the same time that he studied cognition and animation. The combination of scientific tools and a creative approach allowed him to explore new possibilities for the social roles that robots could one day play in our lives. After all, if they can beat us at Jeopardy, who’s to say they can’t also help us master fractions?

Today, through both his studies and the company that he’s part of, he is helping to create a future where robots can be social, and interact naturally with humans to support our harder-to-meet needs, like tutoring, play, and companionship.

Because, as Sam might say, “why not”?