EmoFriends Wins Gold Award at Hong Kong Techathon+ 2025

We are pleased to announce that EmoFriends, developed by Prof. Stephen Jia Wang's team at the Research Centre for Future Caring Mobility, has won the Gold Award in the Trusted AI and Data Science track at Hong Kong Techathon+ 2025, one of the most prestigious intercollegiate technology competitions in the region that attracts thousands of participants from leading universities worldwide and serves as a crucial platform for showcasing groundbreaking innovations in emerging technology fields.

EmoFriends is an innovative modular toolkit that transforms ordinary plush toys into intelligent companion robots for emotional support. Its breakthrough “Emosense” technology enables the system to understand users' emotional status through touch, providing precise stress monitoring. Powered by advanced AI, EmoFriends offers personalized conversations tailored to users' emotional states, delivering empathetic support through a combination of stress tracking, emotion-aware chatting, and haptic stimulation.

The Gold Award recognition underscores our lab's continued leadership in developing human-centered AI solutions that bridge emotional health with cutting-edge technology. This achievement follows the project's previous international recognition, including an iF Design Award 2025, further establishing our position at the forefront of caring technology innovation.