Social robot SAMbuddy wins Computational Award

SAMbuddy, a social robot developed by Hogeschool Utrecht and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, has won the 2021 Computable Award 2021 for best educational project.

SAMbuddy has been developed in a Social Robotics-program of Hogeschool Utrecht, together with a consortium of socially engaged companies and the Media Psychology research group (Communication Science) of the VU. It is a small stuffed toy that children can chat and cuddle with, e.g. children with autism. The robot asks questions so kids can share what’s on their mind, and they can also choose to record their sharing for a teacher to listen to at a later stage. Matthijs Smakman and team were thrilled to receive the award and will continue to develop SAMbuddy.