【Ask Me What You Want (2024)】

The Ask Me What You Want (2024)fantasy world of Barbie dolls just got more high-tech. On Tuesday, Mattel, the company that makes the famous stick figurine, announced Barbie's new career: robotics engineer.

The "Career of the Year" Barbie is now available online for $13.99. She comes with safety goggles, a doll-sized laptop computer, and a small humanoid robot.

SEE ALSO: Kids are drawing more female scientists than ever before

While robotics engineer is a first-ever career for Barbie, she's previously had several occupations in science, technology, engineering, and math, including as a computer engineer, astronaut, and video game developer.

But this Barbie is more than just a doll, say STEM experts involved in its creation and launch.

"I’m excited because [the doll] allows our girls to imagine a future that I didn’t have at their age."

"I’m excited because [the doll] allows our girls to imagine a future that I didn’t have at their age," says Kimberly Bryant, an electrical engineer and founder of Black Girls Code, a nonprofit educational organization that's received a grant from Barbie to help reach girls interested in the field. Some participants in the organization's robotics workshops will receive the new Barbie doll.

Mattel will also offer seven free "Barbie-inspired" coding experiences through Tynker, an online platform that provides coding classes to children. The lessons will focus on logic, problem-solving, and other coding skills.

Mashable Light Speed Want more out-of-this world tech, space and science stories? Sign up for Mashable's weekly Light Speed newsletter. By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up!

Bryant believes the robotics engineer Barbie, which comes in four skin tones, could help young girls imagine themselves in a STEM field at an early age. Women hold only 24 percent of STEM jobs in the United States, and Bryant says that lack of representation, both in pop culture and in the workplace, can deter women from entering and remaining in STEM careers.

Bryant's favorite aspect of the doll is how her career represents the "intersection" of technology and engineering — in other words, coding a computer program and building a robot.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Barbie enlisted Cynthia Breazeal, associate professor of media arts and sciences at MIT and founder of the social robot company Jibo, Inc., to ensure that the doll and her accessories accurately reflect the typical robotics engineer. The product packaging art depicts an industrial robot workspace, the robot looks similar to one you might find in hobbyist workshops, and the robot's sprocket parts actually work.

Breazeal hopes the doll introduces girls to artificial intelligence and encourages them to learn more about robotics and engineering. Imaginative play with Barbie could include pretending to program a robot to do chores or homework.

"I think it opens up girls’ imaginations [to the idea] that intelligent machines can be in their daily lives," says Breazeal.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

That point isn't a small one. With AI driving innovations in everyday products like phones, cars, and even doorbells, Breazeal says it's imperative that the workforce behind those developments be as diverse as possible.

"When you talk about something like artificial intelligence, we cannot only have a few highly educated people" accessing and interacting with it, she says. "The democratization of these technologies is very, very important."

Years from now, we'll no doubt hear from pioneering female robotics engineers who fondly remember their "Career of the Year" doll.

---

Featured Video For You

---

This after-school program teaches kids how to code

---

Topics Social Good

• Social Good
• Tech
• Games
• Entertainment
• Digital Culture
• Life
• Deals
• Science

• Nintendo Switch 2 preorder just days away, per leak
• Yesterday’s Liberal
• Goodbye, Pepe
• Hugh Hefner Was Always an Abusive Creep with Bad Taste in Leisure Wear
• NYT Connections hints and answers for April 26: Tips to solve 'Connections' #685.
• The Conversion of Gucci Mane
• Whitewash
• Underwater Photographer of the Year 2022: The winning photos
• I'm a college professor. My advice to young people who feel hooked on tech
• Sex, Lies, and Videotape

• Wordle today: Here's the answer and hints for September 11
• 'Quordle' today: See each 'Quordle' answer and hints for September 12, 2023
• TikTok creators are living healthy lifestyles ironically — and it's working
• 5 New Paintings by Mamma Andersson
• The Wonders of Industrial
• 'Forgiving Johnny' review: AI's unlikely role in restorative justice
• 'Quordle' today: See each 'Quordle' answer and hints for September 11, 2023
• An English Translation of Houellebecq’s "Submission" Is Coming
• The Making of an American
• Homesick for Sadness

• How to Easily Make iPhone Ringtones Using Only iTunes
• A Farewell to the Impossible Kyrie Irving
• Finger-Lickin’ Lulz
• Yesterday’s Liberal
• Gods of War
• A Right to Police Accountability
• After a Tragedy, the Ohio State Fair Endures
• Getting Schooled
• Best robot vacuum deal: Eufy Omni C20 robot vacuum and mop at record
• Stormbound

• No Time for a Negative Peace
• Hang the Landlord
• The Pizzagate Polity
• Gun Anarchy and the Unfree State
• Your 'wrong person' texts may be linked to Myanmar warlord
• Trumpspeak
• The Dog Delusion
• The Fatberg Cometh
• TikTok wants me to host a dinner party. Is that an actual recession indicator?
• President Lisa Simpson