New Friends Association

New Friends is an interdisceplinary association for social robots in therapy and education. The application of social robots in therapy and education is an emerging multidisciplinary field. This development is fueled by the fact that these ‘new friends’ become more sophisticated, available and affordable. In recent years there has been an enormous increase in projects in which social robots are used successfully for groups with special needs, such as people with dementia, hospitalized children and children with autism. Advancement in this field demands collaboration between academic research, practice and industry and expertise from a wide range of disciplines, like psychology, nursing, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, AI, robotics and education. Collaboration between these areas enables us to meet the technical opportunities with the development of therapeutic and educational practice. The New Friends Association aims to stimulate, promote and facilitate this collaboration by providing a platform and network.