The Robot Report

  • Home
  • News
  • Technologies
    • Batteries / Power Supplies
    • Cameras / Imaging / Vision
    • Controllers
    • End Effectors
    • Microprocessors / SoCs
    • Motion Control
    • Sensors
    • Soft Robotics
    • Software / Simulation
  • Development
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Human Robot Interaction / Haptics
    • Mobility / Navigation
    • Research
  • Robots
    • AGVs
    • AMRs
    • Consumer
    • Collaborative Robots
    • Drones
    • Humanoids
    • Industrial
    • Self-Driving Vehicles
    • Unmanned Maritime Systems
  • Business
    • Financial
      • Investments
      • Mergers & Acquisitions
      • Earnings
    • Markets
      • Agriculture
      • Healthcare
      • Logistics
      • Manufacturing
      • Mining
      • Security
    • RBR50
      • RBR50 Winners 2025
      • RBR50 Winners 2024
      • RBR50 Winners 2023
      • RBR50 Winners 2022
      • RBR50 Winners 2021
  • Resources
    • Automated Warehouse Research Reports
    • Digital Issues
    • eBooks
    • Publications
      • Automated Warehouse
      • Collaborative Robotics Trends
    • Search Robotics Database
    • Videos
    • Webinars / Digital Events
  • Events
    • RoboBusiness
    • Robotics Summit & Expo
    • DeviceTalks
    • R&D 100
    • Robotics Weeks
  • Podcast
    • Episodes
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe

Buddy social robot delayed again as Blue Frog looks for funding

By Eugene Demaitre | May 28, 2019


Robots that interact with people are finding numerous applications, including companionship for the aging; therapeutic use by people with autism and other conditions; and customer service in retail stores, hotels, and hospitals. However, many social robots have struggled with failure to deliver on promised capabilities, funding challenges, and a consumer market that is interested in such devices but not at current price points. The latest potential casualty is Buddy from Blue Frog Robotics.

Rodolph Hasselvander, co-founder and CEO of Blue Frog Robotics, reached out to The Robot Report and other sources in the past few weeks in search of investors. If he provides additional comments, they will be added to this article. Hasselvander was previously executive director of Centre de Robotique Intégrée d’Ile de France (CRIIF), an engineering consultancy that develops customized robotic systems for military, industrial, and services clients.

According to Blue Frog Robotics, Buddy is “the world’s first true companion robot,” with a wheeled base and a screen “face.” Since 2014, the Paris-based company had raised more than $600,000, mostly through an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign.

For the past few years, attendees at CES in Las Vegas could see Buddy in the French pavilion among the startups at Eureka Park. Blue Frog Robotics also has offices in Boston and San Francisco.

Appealing for patience, more crowdfunding

Hasselvander last week posted an apology to Buddy’s supporters for delays in production. He noted that Buddy is in the final phases of commercialization. After five years of development, he projected that Buddy will now be available in April 2020.

Blue Frog apology for Buddy's lateness

Blue Frog CEO Rodolphe Hasselvander posted an apology for production delays.

In the meantime, Blue Frog is launching “an equity crowdfunding campaign by the end of June” to scale up for manufacturing and pay for the robot’s launch in the European and American markets.

Hasselvander also announced the launch of a website, mybuddyworld.com, to maintain transparency and allow Blue Frog’s team and customers to interact more directly.

Social robot struggles continue

As IEEE Spectrum noted, Buddy could be another case of a consumer robotics startup that promised more than it could quickly or affordably deliver.

Blue Frog claimed that Buddy could work with smart-home systems, educate and entertain children, and assist the elderly. It could also help connect families, serve as a security guard, and take photos and share them. In addition, the “emotional robot” could interact naturally with users through speech and serve as a butler, said Blue Frog.

The company also opened the software developer’s kit (SDK) to encourage others to build applications for the robot. Slots were provided for arms, but the robot did not come with manipulators.

This is similar to the design and challenges faced by Jibo’s eponymous robot, Mayfield Robotics’ Kuri, and Anki’s Vector and Cozmo. They required machine learning, an ecosystem of supporters and programmers, and differentiators from Amazon Alexa/Echo and Google Home.

It’s possible that Blue Frog will get more funding in time or that its intellectual property will find a new home, as did Rethink Robotics’ Sawyer collaborative robot with the Hahn Group.

About The Author

Eugene Demaitre

Eugene Demaitre is editorial director of the robotics group at WTWH Media. He was senior editor of The Robot Report from 2019 to 2020 and editorial director of Robotics 24/7 from 2020 to 2023. Prior to working at WTWH Media, Demaitre was an editor at BNA (now part of Bloomberg), Computerworld, TechTarget, and Robotics Business Review.

Demaitre has participated in robotics webcasts, podcasts, and conferences worldwide. He has a master's from the George Washington University and lives in the Boston area.

Comments

  1. pfon71361 says

    May 29, 2019 at 5:44 pm

    I joined the Buddy Indiegogo campaign at its beginning more than three years ago with a $799.00 pledge and have waited patiently since then for my robot. So far, after many explanations from Blue Frog over the years, no luck. I also placed a deposit for the Mayfield Kuri robot which they thankfully returned when they realized the prospect for the actual production of the robot was unrealistic. I did, however, on a more positive note, receive delivery of Sony’s new Aibo robot dog in December 2018. I hope that Blue Frog will do the same as Mayfield and refund me if worst comes to worst but at this point, I’m not holding my breath.

    Reply
  2. Julie says

    August 12, 2019 at 11:13 pm

    I want a buddy! 😞

    Reply
  3. Katy Pugh says

    February 28, 2020 at 10:25 am

    I have a son who is 25, he is Down Syndrome and he gets so lonely sometimes. I think Buddy would be like a best friend for him. He loved Buddy when he saw him and Zenbo. Those were his two favorites. Please let me know when he is available. His birthday is in April and I saw that Buddy would be available in April of this year. I am disabled and Wesley lives here with me and my mother. I help with my grandson a few days a week. He is expensive but I would put him on my emergency card or find a different finance for him. Wesley would love him. Thank you

    Reply
  4. Jenn says

    April 4, 2020 at 7:21 pm

    I would like my money back it’s been YEARS…

    Reply
  5. Steve says

    April 8, 2020 at 5:54 pm

    It’s April now what .. can you give us paying customers some info on delivery.’’

    Reply
  6. Patricia Robinson says

    July 6, 2020 at 3:16 pm

    If I order Buddy when will I receive it

    Reply
    • paul dimino says

      September 1, 2020 at 4:35 am

      never

      Reply
  7. john shruhan says

    October 7, 2020 at 8:12 pm

    can i get a refund

    Reply
  8. john shruhan says

    October 7, 2020 at 8:13 pm

    without legal help

    Reply
  9. Karen raica says

    November 2, 2020 at 2:53 pm

    Would like a buddy First if not a refund it I don’t get that I’ll get a lawyer and sue you for false advertisement especially appealing to children. Doe with your excuses
    Please respond or I’ll make this a campaign avast your entire company you are using the money you Haeckel gotten to pay your salaries p. You need to deliver the product please. My husband was in te senate I know politics and the law. I would prefer the product as promised especially to the kids. You obviously paid for advertsement.,so you have funding.

    Reply
  10. Pawel says

    March 9, 2021 at 7:21 am

    This was and still is a scam. You are sheeps, technology going foward,they will never finished that scam robot.

    Reply
  11. cliff lewis says

    March 9, 2021 at 8:18 am

    I ordered a Buddy and also a little sophia from Hanson Robotics. Little sophia is behind schedule for delivery also, the big difference is Hanson Robtics faithfully sends an update email every 3 months, explaining in detail the progress of little sophia. The updates from Blue Frog Robotics has been very sporadic!!! The least Blue Frog Robtics could do is update faithfully every 3 months!!!

    Reply
  12. Peter G says

    April 28, 2022 at 5:11 am

    i ordered Buddy back in 2015 !!! $999 with projectorarm

    what a SCAM and indiegogo should be ashamed.
    i’ve backed several developers but most of them was a scam (like sound heroes speaker)
    indiegogo keeps quit and the buddy website is under development for years

    DON’T LET THEM FOOL YOU

    like i did, and despite the good, i will never FUND anything again

    Reply
  13. Trevor Cox says

    June 15, 2022 at 7:35 am

    can i have my money back its been years since i ordered fed up with waiting

    Reply
  14. Jani Hall says

    February 17, 2025 at 9:33 pm

    I am beyond disappointed with Blue Frog Robotics and their MyBuddy funding campaign. I purchased a MyBuddy in 2016 during one of their presales, when they finished their first 1,000 robots. The combined price I paid for the robot, the charging station, and the projector arm was $999. The first few years after I purchased a MyBuddy and accessories, I kept receiving updates with excuses about how hard of a time they were having getting the robots off the assembly line to fulfill orders. Then, all of the updates suddenly stopped. It’s been 8 years, nearly $1,000 spent, and still no robot. Now I read that the French minister of education purchased a total of $1M worth of robots for their schools, and Blue Frog had no difficulty in fulfilling those orders. Blue Frog Robotics needs to refund all of the money we have spent making them rich beyond measure. This is undeniably the biggest tech scam of all time, and it amounts to nothing less than theft on a major international scale.

    Reply

Tell Us What You Think! Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Related Articles Read More >

A man walking down a crosswalk wearing the Ekso personal exoskeleton with a woman walking beside him. The man is also using crutches to stay steady.
NVIDIA accepts Ekso Bionics into its Connect program
RealMan Robotics offers a variety of mobile manipulators.
RealMan displays embodied robotics at Automate 2025
Concept renders showing the different jobs Persona AI's humanoids could be deployed for.
Persona AI raises $27M to develop humanoid robots for shipyards
An ABB robot painting a car hood.
ABB deploys PixelPaint at Mercedes-Benz plant in Germany

RBR50 Innovation Awards

“rr
EXPAND YOUR KNOWLEDGE AND STAY CONNECTED
Get the latest info on technologies, tools and strategies for Robotics Professionals.
The Robot Report Listing Database

Latest Episode of The Robot Report Podcast

Automated Warehouse Research Reports

Sponsored Content

  • Sager Electronics and its partners, logos shown here, will exhibit at the 2025 Robotics Summit & Expo. Sager Electronics to exhibit at the Robotics Summit & Expo
  • The Shift in Robotics: How Visual Perception is Separating Winners from the Pack
  • An AutoStore automated storage and retrieval grid. Webinar to provide automated storage and retrieval adoption advice
  • Smaller, tougher devices for evolving demands
  • Modular motors and gearboxes make product development simple
The Robot Report
  • Mobile Robot Guide
  • Collaborative Robotics Trends
  • Field Robotics Forum
  • Healthcare Robotics Engineering Forum
  • RoboBusiness Event
  • Robotics Summit & Expo
  • About The Robot Report
  • Subscribe
  • Contact Us

Copyright © 2025 WTWH Media LLC. All Rights Reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media
Privacy Policy | Advertising | About Us

Search The Robot Report

  • Home
  • News
  • Technologies
    • Batteries / Power Supplies
    • Cameras / Imaging / Vision
    • Controllers
    • End Effectors
    • Microprocessors / SoCs
    • Motion Control
    • Sensors
    • Soft Robotics
    • Software / Simulation
  • Development
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Human Robot Interaction / Haptics
    • Mobility / Navigation
    • Research
  • Robots
    • AGVs
    • AMRs
    • Consumer
    • Collaborative Robots
    • Drones
    • Humanoids
    • Industrial
    • Self-Driving Vehicles
    • Unmanned Maritime Systems
  • Business
    • Financial
      • Investments
      • Mergers & Acquisitions
      • Earnings
    • Markets
      • Agriculture
      • Healthcare
      • Logistics
      • Manufacturing
      • Mining
      • Security
    • RBR50
      • RBR50 Winners 2025
      • RBR50 Winners 2024
      • RBR50 Winners 2023
      • RBR50 Winners 2022
      • RBR50 Winners 2021
  • Resources
    • Automated Warehouse Research Reports
    • Digital Issues
    • eBooks
    • Publications
      • Automated Warehouse
      • Collaborative Robotics Trends
    • Search Robotics Database
    • Videos
    • Webinars / Digital Events
  • Events
    • RoboBusiness
    • Robotics Summit & Expo
    • DeviceTalks
    • R&D 100
    • Robotics Weeks
  • Podcast
    • Episodes
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe