Australian company, Exaptec, distributes a range of social robots including the new family companion social robot, Buddy. The open-source, connected robot was designed as a modular platform and can be expanded with different accessories, such as arms. Buddy uses facial recognition to remind family members of important events and to identify potential dangers inside and outside the home. Buddy can communicate wirelessly with other devices via Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. Unlike Siri, Google Home or Amazon Echo, Buddy is mobile and proactively interacts with its surroundings.

Buddy is being used as the social robot platform for senior assistance solutions in an innovative project aiming to improve the everyday lives of the elderly. Funded by the European Commission, the Agile CoCreation of Robots for Ageing (ACCRA) project (www.accra-project.org) is a collaboration between European and Japanese universities. The goal of the ACCRA project is to develop robotic applications to improve the daily lives of the elderly.