News & updates
ROBOT-BOND Bus Gets Its Official Look!
July 21, 2026
Our ROBOT-BOND bus has received its official ROBOT-BOND branding! With the new project-themed stickers, we are now instantly recognizable wherever we go.
Will you spot us out in the wild soon?
Interview on Lowlands Study in New Scientist
July 21, 2026
New Scientist highlights the ROBOT-BOND ClueBots study, which will take place at the Lowlands festival this summer. In the interview, Elly Konijn explains how visitors work together with social robots to solve a mystery, while researchers investigate how people experience different robots and what makes an interaction with a robot feel as if with a human.
New publication: Social robots in internet-based CBT
July 14, 2026
Can a social robot help people adhere to an online therapy program? In this new publication, Elly Konijn, Gidon Peeper, Tijs Portegies, Nadia Garnefski, Vivian Kraaij, and Sascha Struijs show that a physically present social robot can increase therapeutic alliance, adherence, and satisfaction compared to the same screen-based interventions. The findings highlight the potential of social robots as a supportive tool in unguided internet-based Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (iCBT).
Reference:
Konijn, E. A., Peeper, G., Portegies, T., Garnefski, N., Kraaij, V., & Struijs, S. (2026). Examining the Potential of Social Robots to Increase Adherence in Internet-based CBT. International Journal of Social Robotics, 18(6), 83. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12369-026-01417-8
ROBOT-BOND is going to Lowlands!
June 10, 2026
Our research proposal ‘ClueBots - Hunt for the lost code’ has been accepted for Lowlands Science 2026!
ClueBots is a challenging adventure game — and a live experiment on how people experience robots in a chaotic, social environment.
02:13 AM.
Your phone: 0%.
Your friends: vanished into thin air.
Your tent? Myth. Legend. Hallucination?
Welcome to ClueBots: the real festival experience, where nothing is what it seems.
Your mission? Find your destination - the bar, your tent, the exit. Your only guides? A group of robots.
Can you find your way? And why does one robot feel like your best festival friend, while another feels like that guy who talks too much at the bar?
More to come later!
Experiments with the times-tables robot have started!
April 14, 2026
After an intensive development phase, we started experimenting with a robot-tutor that helps with arithmetic at different primary schools. In these experiments, the robot-tutor QT will start practicing the times tables with the children.
Recordings for AI Love
March 31, 2026
A documentary crew from broadcaster HUMAN filmed with us on March 31 for their TV series ‘AI Love’. Season 3 will be released after the summer holidays.
TechTalk @ Levvel Amsterdam
March 31, 2026
We visited Levvel Amsterdam to host a TechTalk. With the help of 9 different robots, we allowed the professionals at Levvel to experience how each robot comes across differently, and we engaged in a discussion to explore whether and how robots could assist in youth support.
In addition to this being a premiere for our bus and having a documentary crew from broadcaster HUMAN with us, we also had the honor of using the new Playground at Levvel, a space designed for getting acquainted with technology.
New robot transport!
March 19, 2026
From now on, we have a delivery van to transport our robots!
ROBOT-BOND At the KU AI Symposium 2026
March 5, 2026
Next week, Prof. Elly Konijn will be attending the KU AI Symposium 2026, organized by Koç University in Istanbul. She will give a presentation on the topic: "The Psychology of Relationship Formation with Robots: Human-Robot Bonding." More information about the symposium can be found here.
“AI will always love you”
February 18, 2026
On 26 February 2026, the Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen (KNAW) hosts the public event “AI will always love you” at the Trippenhuis in Amsterdam.
Prof. dr. Elly Konijn and dr. Tessa Beinema will be speaking at this event. The evening examines how we build relationships with machines such as robots and chatbots, and whether these interactions influence our human connections.
Interested? More information and a registration link can be found here: https://www.knaw.nl/bijeenkomsten/ai-will-always-love-you
ROBOT-BOND goes Etmaal26
February 9, 2026
Last week, the ROBOT-BOND team attended Etmaal2026 in Arnhem (Papendal). During this conference, we shared (preliminary) findings from our research in presentations.
Social Robots’ Behavioural Styles and Individual Differences in Primary School Education: A Systematic Literature Review - Veerle Hobbelink, Elly Konijn, Matthijs Smakman, Marieke van Otterdijk, Roma de la Torre y Rivas
Didactically Responsible Social Robots: Exploring Needs and Preferences of Stakeholders in Primary Education - Roma de la Torre y Rivas, Elly Konijn, Marieke van Otterdijk, Veerle Hobbelink
Social Robots in Higher Education: A User-Centered Exploration of Needs, Preferences, and Perceived Roles - Caterina Ceccato, Elly Konijn, Tessa Beinema
Perspectives on Robot Support by Young Adults with Intellectual Disability and Health Care Professionals: A Mixed-Method Study - Peggy van Minkelen, Elly Konijn, Tessa Beinema
Robots as Tutors for Children in Special Education: An Assessment of Needs and Preferences from Children, Teachers, and Parents - Marieke van Otterdijk, Elly Konijn, Roma de la Torre y Rivas, Veerle Hobbelink
Understanding Adolescents’ Needs and Preferences in Social Robot Support for Mood Disorders: A Mixed-Methods Focus Group Study - Tessa Beinema, Peggy van Minkelen, Caterina Ceccato, Elly Konijn
Also, prof. dr. Elly Konijn was part of an engaging panel discussion about bonding between humans and artificial others together with dr. Ruud Hortensius, and dr. Chris Starke.
During the conference, we picked up some new ideas and perspectives. We also had the opportunity to connect and share our research insights with the communication scientists’ community in the Netherlands and Belgium (Flanders).
End-of-year reflection
December 18, 2025
As the ROBOT-BOND team, we look back on an eventful first year of our project. This year was filled with our symposium on Human-robot bonding, a workshop at RO-MAN, conference presentations, a Hackathon, interesting interviews with a variety of people all across the Netherlands, and robots, of course! We are excited about what 2026 will bring. We want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and all the best for the new year!
Presentations at Etmaal 2026
December 4, 2025
We are excited to announce that six of our ROBOT-BOND team's abstracts have been accepted for presentations at Etmaal26 in Wageningen. Hope to see you there at our presentations!
Robot Interaction Hackathon
October 2, 2025
The ROBOT-BOND team hosted an exciting hackathon as part of the Robot Interaction bachelor course. In six hours, 20 student groups collaborated, coded, and created innovative robot interactions designed to address self-defined real-world challenges.
From supporting exercise routines for older adults to assisting women with postpartum depression, helping students manage social anxiety, easing children’s fear during medical procedures, and even tutoring kids in math, the students showcased an inspiring range of ideas with their robot interaction demos.
It was an incredible event full of creativity, problem-solving, and teamwork. A glimpse into the future of compassionate, human-centered robotics.
MediaPsych Conference 2025
September 10-12, 2025
The ROBOT-BOND team attended MediaPsych 2025 in Duisburg. During the conference, we shared some of our recent research with both posters and a presentation. The research presented were:
Exploring Relationship Formation and Common Ground in Unscripted Human-Robot Interaction Using a Collaborative Game-Based Framework - Peggy van Minkelen, Jaap Kruijt, Elly Konijn, Thomas Baier, Piek Vossen
Robots as Tutors for Children with ASD: An Assessment of Needs and Preferences - Marieke van Otterdijk, Elly Konijn
Understanding Adolescents' Needs and Preferences in Social Robot Support for Mood Disorders: A Qualitative Approach - Tessa Beinema, Elly A. Konijn
We had many engaging discussions, picked up some new ideas, and had the opportunity to connect with the international Media Psychology community. We thank the organisers of MediaPsych for making all this possible.
IEEE RO-MAN 2025 Conference and Workshop
August 25-29, 2025
The ROBOT-BOND team had a great time attending the IEEE RO-MAN2025 in Eindhoven.
With the team we organized the BRIDGE-workshop together with researchers from Università di Genova, RWTH Aachen University, and Universität Paderborn to name a few. During the workshop we had a diverse program filled with interesting keynotes, discussions, posters and a panel that was greatly appreciated by the participants.
Next to the workshop, we had many engaging discussions, picked up some new ideas, and had the opportunity to connect to the international Human-Robot Interaction community. We thank the organizers of RO-MAN2025 who made all this possible.
Ecce Machina - Finding humanity in an AI-flooded world
May 14, 2025
Elly Konijn was a featured speaker at Ecce Machina – Finding Humanity in an AI-Flooded World, a multidisciplinary symposium exploring the social and emotional role of generative AI. The event brought together leading voices from AI, ethics, psychology, and philosophy to discuss how machines are increasingly stepping into roles of care, creativity, and companionship. Professor Konijn contributed her insights on media psychology and the emotional dynamics of human-robot interaction, sparking vital conversation on what it means to remain human in an age of intelligent simulation.
Theoretical paper in Communication Theory
April 07, 2025
Our theoretical paper, fundamental to the ROBOT-BOND project, has been accepted for publication in Communication Theory!
Elly A Konijn, Daniel F Preciado Vanegas, Peggy van Minkelen, Theory of affective bonding: a framework to explain how people may relate to social robots and artificial others, Communication Theory, Volume 35, Issue 3, August 2025, Pages 139–151, https://doi-org.vu-nl.idm.oclc.org/10.1093/ct/qtaf007
Abstract
As social beings, we humans are driven to connect, and not only to fellow humans. We readily develop emotional connections toward ‘beings’ that are in fact not humans, demonstrated by millennia-old fascinations with fictional characters. More recently observed with technologies capable of socially engaging as artificial others, responding almost as if they were humans themselves. As these technologies advance, digital and robotic entities become more proficient at offering assistance and to satisfy our need to connect and establish meaningful relationships. The current paper reviews and integrates literature from various fields to examine the key concepts and psycho-social mechanisms underlying relationship formation between humans and artificial others, specifically focusing on social robots. The resulting theoretical framework, the Theory of Affective Bonding, seeks to explain how, when and why people would bond to non-human entities or social robots, building on four key propositions. This coherent multi-disciplinary framework may advance the field and guide future research in human-robot communication and relationship formation over time.
New robots!
April 02, 2025
The first new robots for our research have arrived!
Presentations at MediaPsych 2025
April 01, 2025
Three papers from our robot-bond team have been accepted for presentation at the 2025 MediaPsych Conference!
“Human robot bonding” symposium
On Friday, March 21st, the ROBOT-BOND team hosted a symposium on Human-Robot Bonding, in collaboration with the Digital Media and Behavior Lab and the Network Institute of the VU. The event brought together 30 prominent scholars of the human-robot interaction field from universities across the Netherlands and Belgium, including Groningen, Eindhoven, Nijmegen, Utrecht, and Ghent .
Throughout the day, 10 expert speakers shared their latest research, sparking discussions about the nature of human-robot relationships and the evolving role of social robotics. Special focus was given to the impact of recent advancements in large language models (LLMs) on this field.
The symposium provided a unique opportunity to explore the multi-disciplinary aspects of bonding with social robots, setting the stage for future collaborations and breakthroughs in this rapidly advancing area of research. As a direct outcome of the productive discussions during the event, we have launched two new task forces focused on LLMs and measurements, which you can learn more about on the dedicated page (Task Forces)
The symposium programme can be found via the button below.
Workshop at IEEE RO-MAN 2025
March 19, 2025
Our proposal for a workshop on human-robot bonding has been accepted for IEEE RO-MAN 2025! This full-day workshop will be held in combination with three other workshops
Presentation at ICA 2025
A paper by Peggy van Minkelen titled “Investigating Relationship Formation and Common Ground in a Non-scripted Human-Robot Interaction Using a Collaborative Game-based Framework” was accepted for presentation at ICA 2025!
Etmaal
January 17, 2025
On February 3 and 4, 2025, the ROBOT-BOND team attended the Etmaal van de Communicatiewetenschap (24 hours of Communication Science) in Brugge.
ROBOT-BOND has started!
January 1, 2025
On January 1, 2025, the ROBOT-BOND project officially began. The new team is excited to get started!