Overview
The Huggable™ is a new type of robotic companion being developed at the MIT Media Lab for healthcare, education, and social communication applications. The Huggable™ designed to be much more than a fun interactive robotic companion. It is designed to function as a team member that is an essential member of a triadic interaction. Therefore, the Huggable™ is not designed to replace any particular person in a social network, but rather to enhance that human social network.
We are currently working closely with Highlands and Islands Enterprise, a Media Lab sponsor, via the Distance Lab to build a series of these robots for trials in Scotland in healthcare and education. We are also working with Microsoft Research, using Microsoft Robotic Studio to develop the communication avatar implementation.
The early technical development of the Huggable™ was supported in part by a Microsoft iCampus grant.
The Huggable™ is a new type of robotic companion being developed at the MIT Media Lab for healthcare, education, and social communication applications. The Huggable™ designed to be much more than a fun interactive robotic companion. It is designed to function as a team member that is an essential member of a triadic interaction. Therefore, the Huggable™ is not designed to replace any particular person in a social network, but rather to enhance that human social network.
We are currently working closely with Highlands and Islands Enterprise, a Media Lab sponsor, via the Distance Lab to build a series of these robots for trials in Scotland in healthcare and education. We are also working with Microsoft Research, using Microsoft Robotic Studio to develop the communication avatar implementation.
The early technical development of the Huggable™ was supported in part by a Microsoft iCampus grant.