Project description
The future of social robots is being developed today
A new generation of robots is being designed to interact and communicate with humans. Furhat Robotics is using a translucent mask and a back-projected state-of-the-art animation system for its robot. The animation comes from a small projector located in the robot’s neck via a set of mirrors and by mapping a computer animation that exactly fits the mask. It creates the illusion of a moving and living being. Furhat robot has a built-in framework for multi-party dialogue management that enables complex interactions (speech, gaze movements, head pose, facial expressions, and gestures in response to events). It can also interact with several users at the same time and detect their gestures and expressions. The EU-funded Furhat Robotics project aims to bring to market its social robot and show the impact this technology can have on human life.
Objective
Furhat is a social robot that interacts with people just like people do. Furhat is an award-winning novel type of computer-to-human interface that is based on years of R&D on social artificial intelligence.
Furhat's body uses a translucent mask and a back-projected state-of-the-art animation system. The animation comes from a small projector located in the neck via a set of mirrors, and by mapping a computer animation that exactly fits the mask, it creates the illusion of a moving and living being. Furhat has a built-in framework for multi-party dialogue management that enables complex interactions—speech, gaze movements, head pose, facial expressions, and gestures in response to events. Furhat can interact with several users at the same time and detect their gestures & expressions.
Furhat Robotics is a spin-off company from KTH Royal Institute of Technology based on 15 years of research in human-computer interaction, spoken dialog systems, and 3D animation. Furhat is developed by a team headed by a former Disney Imagineer, and includes renowned scientists, and entrepreneurs, that left companies such Disney, Spotify & Klarna, and universities such as Yale, CMU & KTH to work on it.
Furhat has a strong early market traction—50+ customers globally are using it in education & training, therapy & social care, customer service & entertainment.
The annual market for social robots is forecasted to reach €2bn by 2025 with applications in multiple verticals (healthcare, education, public service, research, consumer & personal robots). To maximize our opportunity, we will focus on development of the generic Furhat platform, leaving implementation & commercialization of specific solutions to 3rd party developers & researchers. In this Phase 1 project we will carry out a market assessment & identify 2-3 most promising verticals for commercialization of the Furhat platform.
We are aiming at commercialising ~100,000+ Furhat robots by 2023, generating €28m+ in annual revenues.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
- natural sciences computer and information sciences artificial intelligence
- social sciences sociology governance public services
- social sciences economics and business business and management entrepreneurship
- engineering and technology electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering electronic engineering robotics autonomous robots
- social sciences economics and business business and management business models
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.2.1.1. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies - Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.2.3.1. - Mainstreaming SME support, especially through a dedicated instrument
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-SMEInst-2016-2017
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
114 28 Stockholm
Sweden
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.