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BUDDY goes into final hours of crowdfunding at +500% of goal; announces new US offices


by
04 September 2015



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Buddy-WelcomeBUDDY, the world’s first affordable companion robot, has reached a crowdfunding milestone. With just hours to go on the BUDDY crowdfunding project on Indiegogo, backers have contributed over $501,638 – that’s 502% of the initial goal!

The campaign has also unlocked 12 stretch goals including:

    • Kids programming environment
    • Special Kids pack (i.e Autism)
    • Side tray accessory with USB charging
    • Expressions pack
    • Elder pack
    • Hackathon
    • Black color
    • Memory extension to 32 GB
    • Air quality sensing module
    • Easypath application to create your own smart applications
    • IBM Watson integration

And Blue Frog Robotics has also announced some accessories including:

  • Standard motorized arms
  • Pico Projector Arm
  • Docking station for charging

Developed by the French company Blue Frog Robotics, BUDDY beat his crowdfunding goal ($100,000) in a day, and has been filmed and written about across the world.

BUDDY has a new (second) home

BUDDY enjoyed an enthusiastic welcome on his first visit to the US in August to meet press, investors and fans. He’ll be a regular visitor as Blue Frog Robotics announced the opening of its North American offices in Boston and San Francisco .

Videos

“Buddy is a really, really, ridiculously cute family robot” – Lucas Matney, TechCrunch

“Buddy the robot protector looks like R2-D2’s first cousin” – Stephen Beacham, CNET TV

“With Jibo and now Buddy, Boston is becoming a social-robot mecca”  – David Harris, Boston Business Journal

“Meet Buddy: the Stars Wars-Inspired Robot”< – CRN

“Robot pet-sitters?”  – Scott Kirsner, The Boston Globe

“Buddy robot snubs creator” – Dan Simmons, BBC news

“Buddy the robot is ‘more useful than an iPhone’”
– Anthony Cuthbertson, International Business Times

Articles

“BUDDY, A Crowdfunded Robot And Platform” – Hubert Nguyen – Ubergizmo

“Buddy whisks around on wheels and casters while JIBO, another social robot option, swivels harmlessly on your desk or floor” – Dominic Basulto, The Washington Post

“Buddy marks an advance in the progression of agents from Siri to Amazon Echo, as it moves and interacts proactively” – Ross Rubin, Venture Beat

“Downloading apps on your own personal robot may become as common as downloading apps on your smartphone”  – Cadie Thompson, Business Insider

“Rolling Buddy robot may just kill you with cuteness”  – Lance Ulanoff, Mashable

Rodolphe Hasselvander, creator of BUDDY, says: “We are incredibly overwhelmed and thankful for the love and support BUDDY has received over the past month. The reaction from people is beyond even my wildest of expectations.”



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Blue Frog Robotics is a French start-up that has developed Buddy, "The Companion Robot Accessible to Everyone", co-founded by former CRIIF (Robotics lab) Executive Director Rodolphe Hasselvander.
Blue Frog Robotics is a French start-up that has developed Buddy, "The Companion Robot Accessible to Everyone", co-founded by former CRIIF (Robotics lab) Executive Director Rodolphe Hasselvander.





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