Welcome to Companions

COMPANIONS aims to change the way we think about the relationships of people to computers and the Internet by developing a virtual conversational 'Companion'.

This will be an agent or 'presence' that stays with the user for long periods of time, developing a relationship and 'knowing' its owners preferences and wishes. It will communicate with the user primarily by using and understanding speech, but also using other technologies such as touch screens and sensors.

The project is coordinated at the University of Sheffield and consists of a consortium of 14 partners from across Europe and the US. The European Commission is funding the project as part of its 6th Research Framework, specifically as part of its focus on Information Society Technologies.

Companions News

Movie: What are Companions? Watch the Companions Movie.

Lovelace Medal for Yorick Wilks: Companions' Professor Yorick Wilks has been awarded the British Computer Society's Lovelace Medal, their major award for research, for 2009. The Lovelace medal is awarded to individuals who have made a contribution which is of major significance in the advancement or understanding of Information Systems. Yorick will be presented with the award at an event in London in Spring 2010, at which he will then give the 2010 Lovelace lecture.

Newsletter: Read the latest Companions Newsletter (Jan 2009) [PDF, 470kb].

Publications: Papers and presentations now available for the Fourth International Workshop on Human-Computer Conversation (Bellagio, 6-7 October 2008).

From the Companions Blog

• Machines Designed to Change Humans (9 March 2009)
• Ray Kurzweil's "Age of Spritual Machines" 1999 (26 February 2009)
• Primitive health conversations daily with the elderly help them take their medicines (15 February 2009)