Virtuele mensen worden steeds zichtbaarder in het dagelijks leven. Ze lezen het nieuws, begeleiden patiënten, helpen met huiswerk en spelen hoofdrollen in films en games. Dankzij kunstmatige intelligentie en gametechnologie worden ze razendsnel overtuigender en zijn ze overal aanwezig. De vraag is niet meer óf ze ons leven binnenkomen, maar hoe we dat goed regelen.

Daar is de missie van VIVALDI. Als eerste nationale kennisplatform voor virtuele mensen brengt VIVALDI vijf hogescholen samen: Breda University of Applied Sciences, Fontys, Hogeschool Rotterdam, Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Utrecht en Hogeschool van Amsterdam. Samen met partners uit zorg, onderwijs, media en industrie werken negen lectoraten aan de kennis die Nederland nodig heeft.

Dat klinkt als muziek in de oren

Want er liggen fundamentele vragen open. Hoe realistisch moet een virtuele mens zijn, en wanneer slaat dat door? Wat doen ze met ons gevoel van vertrouwen, identiteit en verbinding? Waarom blijven zoveel veelbelovende toepassingen steken als prototype? En wie bewaakt de normen en waarden die in elk virtueel mens worden ingebakken?

VIVALDI onderzoekt deze vragen systematisch, over sectoren en toepassingen heen. Het platform ontwikkelt gedeelde onderzoeksmethoden, praktijkgerichte ontwerpstandaarden en concrete governance-kaders. Bovendien staan het organiseren van een tweejaarlijkse nationale conferentie, samenwerking met beleidsmakers en het delen van de resultaten met de sector op het programma.

Het resultaat: een platform dat Nederland in positie brengt om virtuele mensen niet alleen te begrijpen, maar ook verantwoord te ontwikkelen en in te zetten, nu en in de toekomst.

Expertise vanuit de hoofdstad

De Hogeschool van Amsterdam draagt via de faculteit Digitale Media en Creatieve Industrie bij met twee samenwerkende onderzoeksgroepen, die VIVALDI verankeren in mensgerichte en maatschappelijk ingebedde digitale innovatie.

Vanuit Digital Life is available for download associate lector Child Technology Interaction Simone de Droog betrokken. Zij leidt onderzoek naar de manier waarop sociale robots en digitale personages positief, duurzaam en ethisch kunnen bijdragen aan het welzijn en de ontwikkeling van kinderen in zorg- en onderwijscontexten.

The L.INT-lectoraat Hybrid Realities onder leiding van Esther Hammelburg levert aan dit consortium waardevol onderzoek naar het thema liveness, evenals expertise op het gebied van virtual humans (VH’s) in de context van deathtech. Aangezien dit lectoraat een samenwerking is met het Rathenau Instituut, brengt het bovendien expertise en een netwerk op het gebied van overheid en beleid in, evenals ervaring met de dialoog met burgers en een focus op publieke waarden.

Children’s maths performance is declining. At the same time, the shortage of primary school teachers is increasing. The teaching time available is spent on the cognitive aspects of maths: ensuring that children understand and master the basic skills. But maths is a subject in which negative emotions also play a significant role – more so than in other subjects. And those emotions can have a negative impact on maths performance.

Although teachers agree that emotional aspects are important, they lack the time, knowledge, skills and appropriate tools to address these systematically. This gave rise to the idea of developing a robot assistant for teachers that takes children’s emotions towards maths into account. Based on brief, child-friendly micro-check-ins, the robot can deploy appropriate emotion-regulation strategies where necessary. In this way, both the cognitive and affective aspects of maths can be addressed, without placing additional time pressure on teachers.

Image & Video

Publications

Project duration

from 01-09-2026 to 01-09-2028

Project manager

Simone de Droog, associate lector Digital Life, Hogeschool van Amsterdam

Researchers

Somaya Ben Allouch, lector Digital Life, HvA

Marianne Bossema, docent-onderzoeker Digital Life, HvA

Monique Schaule Jullens, programmamanager Digital Life, HvA

Matthijs Smakman, lector, Hogeschool Utrecht

Veerle Hobbelink, promovendus, Hogeschool Utrecht

Rosa Alberto, onderzoeker, Hogeschool Utrecht

Mike Ligthart, assistent professor, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Sanne van der Ven, docent-onderzoeker, Radboud Universiteit

Funding

SIA RAAK Publiek

Partners

• Expertisecentrum Ponto
• Smartrobot.Solutions
• Florente basisscholen
• Gemeente Diemen

With increasing digitalization, children are engaging in offline play with others less frequently, resulting in heightened risks of loneliness, obesity, and underdeveloped social skills. Across Europe, this trend has contributed to the rise of an “anxious generation,” with mental health challenges linked to excessive social media exposure and declining face-to-face interactions.

While banning digital tools is not a viable solution – given their strong appeal and role in fostering digital literacy – emerging technologies offer an alternative approach. Robots, for instance, are increasingly recognized as effective mediators of interaction and play. Research highlights that children respond positively to robots, following their instructions and interacting with them as engaging, human-like playmates.

This project aims to develop a small, scalable, and autonomous ‘Playbot’ designed to inspire and facilitate play among children. Tailored to the weather, environment, personal preferences, and developmental needs, the Playbot will encourage children to engage in diverse offline activities together, fostering social connection and active play.

As a seed money initiative, this project will focus on creating and testing an initial prototype. The findings will identify critical knowledge gaps, key research and practical questions, and establish partnerships with European collaborators, laying the groundwork for a compelling and competitive Horizon grant application.

Project duration

1 Mar 2025 -31 Dec 2025

Project manager

dr Simone de Droog

Researchers

• prof. dr Somaya Ben Allouch
• Yuri Westplat MA, tutor at CMD and researcher at the lectorate Responsible IT (HvA)
• Pabo, Faculteit Onderwijs & Opvoeding | FOO (HvA)

Funding

Seedmoney of the Centre of Expertise Creative Innovation (CoECI)

In today’s fast-paced world, stress has become a common challenge, and while digital solutions like apps and wearables offer support, they can paradoxically increase anxiety through screen fatigue and constant notifications. Throughout history, tangible objects such as prayer beads, worry stones, and fidget toys have offered calming, haptic experiences to help people self-soothe.

Building on this tradition, the WarmStone project explores a low-tech, participatory approach to stress relief. Through ceramic-making workshops, participants create personalized “WarmStones”—handheld objects crafted to provide tactile comfort and promote mindfulness in everyday life. By examining the shapes, textures, and uses of these objects, the project aims to inform the design of future haptic tools that support emotional wellbeing.

WarmStone offers an opportunity to design and craft unique ceramic objects that fit naturally into daily life. Participants are guided through the process by professional ceramic artist Jiechen, and are encouraged to create handheld “WarmStones” , small, texture-rich pieces designed to provide calming and self-soothing experiences through touch.

In addition to these fidget-friendly objects, participants also have the chance to create an everyday ceramic item, such as a cup or mug, with personalized textures and designs that reflect their individual tactile preferences.

Project duration

1 Mar 2025 -31 Dec 2025

Project manager

dr Bin Yu

Researchers

prof. dr Somaya Ben Allouch

Students

Zixun Zhou, University of Amsterdam

Funding

Seedmoney of the Centre of Expertise Creative Innovation (CoECI)

Partners

• University of Amsterdam Digital Interaction Group
• Studio Boey
• Studio JieChen

More accessible tools such as the Oculus-Rift (virtual reality), Kinect and Wii focus primarily on gross motor skills (Guberek et al., 2009; Winkels, Kottink, Temmink, Nijlant, & Buurke, 2013), and traditional toys lack the ability to generate data that can be useful for therapy. Accordingly, the limitations of present therapies demonstrate a significant need for the development of novel approaches and treatments.

With this project we are interested in researching: “How to design smart-toys to improve home-based therapies for children with Cerebral Palsy?”. This research project will be using a Research through Design (RtD) approach as proposed by Zimmerman et al. (Zimmerman, Forlizzi, & Evenson, 2007) for iterative creation of prototypes and knowledge generation as is standard in-game development. This research makes emphasis in the use of toys, which are more open-ended than most games that have predefined rules and outcomes but give more opportunity for imagination.

This research provides an important opportunity to advance the understanding of motivation and playfulness in therapy assisted by new technologies. This is a PhD project executed in collaboration with the ‘Digital Society School’, the ‘Play and Civic Media’ lectorate and the Digital Life Centre in the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, the ‘University of Twente’ and ‘Roessingh Rehabilitation Centre’.

For more information visit the website Toys4Therapy

Project duration

1 Oct 2018 -31 Oct 2022

Researchers

Tamara V. Pinos Cisneros

Funding

Hogeschool van Amsterdam

Partners

• Digital Society School
• Play and Civic Media
• University of Twente

What is the purpose of our research?
The aim of the Simba research is to make children with asthma move with pleasure and confidence. If you enjoy doing something, you will quickly do that more often. That is why we have created the Foxfit app together with children with asthma, which they use to learn how to exercise more in a fun way.

Why is our research important?
Many children with asthma move too little, for example because they are afraid of stuffiness, while moving is very important for them. It can reduce asthma symptoms, so that they can better participate with their peers, for example on the playground and with children’s parties.

There are already many ways to help children exercise more, but these are often not aimed at children with asthma or, on the contrary, are very much aimed at ‘being sick’. Children often do not use it because it does not match what they need or because they do not like it.

In order to create something that is fun and really useful, we in the Simba study work together with children with asthma. We asked these children what they think helps themselves to move more if you have asthma. We also asked this question to their parents and caregivers.

What does the research yield?
We have built the Foxfit app based on all the answers. Several children with asthma and caregivers have tested the first version of the app. With their advice, we have made our exercise app even more convenient, fun and beautiful.

In the app, a fox travels with his rocket to different planets. The children wear a movement meter that keeps track of how much and how fast they move. For movement they get points with which the fox can reach the planet with his rocket. The children also get ideas for fun activities and they get playful tips about asthma, exercise and medicine.

A caregiver, such as a nurse or physical therapist, guides the children while using the app. On a secure Foxfit website, the caregiver can see how much the children have moved and how they felt. In this way the caregivers can easily see whether the children are less moved by asthma complaints. Together with the child, caregivers also set personal goals and hand out trophies to reward the child. The child sees these trophies in the prize cabinet of the app.

How is the research conducted?
Fifteen children and their caregivers tested Foxfit for seven weeks. The children are very enthusiastic. They like using the app to use and move with pleasure. The health care providers also see many benefits of Foxfit. We have now mainly tested the user-friendliness of the app so that Foxfit can be used in practice. The first results of our research are positive. We hope that many children with asthma will take a space trip with Foxfit and learn in this way that exercise can also be fun with asthma.

Image & Video

Publications

Promoting factors for physical activity in children with asthma explored through concept mapping

(2019 )Annette Brons, Katja Braam, Annieck Timmerman, Aline Broekema, Bart Visser, Bart van Ewijk, Suzanne Terheggen – Lagro, Niels Rutjes, Hellen van Leersum, Raoul Engelbert, Ben Krose, Mai Chinapaw & Teatske AltenburgInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 16(22) download

Beweegtool Foxfit voor kinderen met astma

(2019 )Annette Brons, Katja Braam, Aline Broekema, Annieck, Ricken – Timmerman, Bart Visser, Karel Millenaar, Raoul Engelbert & Ben KröseInspiratie 29(1) download

Effectiveness of serious games to increase physical activity in children with a chronic disease: Systematic review with meta-analysis

(2020 )Daniël Bossen, Aline Broekema, Bart Visser, Annette Brons, Annieck Timmerman, Faridi van Etten – Jamaludin, Katja Braam & Raoul EngelbertJMIR 22(4) download

Project duration

1 May 2017 -1 Aug 2019

Project manager

Bart Visser

Researchers

Annette Brons

prof. dr Ben Kröse

Bart Visser

Katja Braam

Aline Broekema

Annieck Ricken – Timmerman

Karel Millenaar

Funding

This research has been made possible in part by the RAAK Public Regulation (SIA management body).

Partners

• Amsterdam UMC
• Kinderkliniek Almere
• Tergooi Blaricum / Hilversum
• Merem Medische Revalidatie
• Longfonds
• VvOCM
• Fitkids
• GainPlay Studio