Breazeal was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She received her bachelor of science degree in electrical and computer engineering from University of California–Santa Barbara in 1989, and her doctor of science degree in electrical engineering and computer science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2000. At MIT, Breazeal worked in the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory under Rodney A. Brooks, fabled pioneer of the actionist approach to robotics. For her doctoral dissertation, she developed Kismet (see video clip, below), a highly expressive humanoid robot capable of unscripted, emotionally intuitive, and hence lifelike interaction with human beings.