On Friday 19 June, De Omval Theatre in Diemen was the place to be: it hosted the RoboUnity Robot Festival, part of the celebrations marking Diemen’s 800th anniversary. During this accessible and well-attended festival, residents of all ages and backgrounds were introduced to various robots, interactive demonstrations and examples of how robotics can be used in everyday life.

Dark Tech

Students from the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences’ ICT programme were also present with two interactive robot demonstrations, developed at Studio Dark Tech on behalf of the Digital Life research group. Under the supervision of Professor Somaya Ben Allouch and Associate Professor Simone de Droog, the students explored how social robots can help foster connections between residents of Diemen.

Robot Riddles

For the festival, the students developed, amongst other things, a robot that showcased dance and music from different countries. Visitors were challenged to guess which country the music or dance came from. This sparked conversations about culture, recognition and differences in a playful way. The demo was enthusiastically received by young and old alike.

Daarnaast namen de studenten een robot mee die dieren nadeed in beweging en geluid. Vooral kinderen reageerden hier heel enthousiast op: zij mochten raden welk dier de robot uitbeeldde en gingen zichtbaar nieuwsgierig de interactie aan.

Social earning capacity

The festival demonstrated how technology can stimulate curiosity, interaction and conversation in an accessible way. For many visitors, it was the first time they had actually interacted with a robot. RoboUnity thus served as a fine example of how practice-oriented research and education can contribute to social cohesion.