Celebrating Success at HRI 2025 Student Design Challenge! 🏆
We’re proud to announce that Murphy, representing our lab, received the Sustainability Recognition Award at the HRI 2025 Student Design Challenge! 🎉
This year’s challenge centered around the theme “Robots for a Sustainable World,” and Murphy’s project—Neighbor Koala—stood out for its creativity and impact.
Neighbor Koala is a community service robot designed to strengthen social connections and promote sustainable living by:
🌿 Facilitating item exchanges among neighbors to reduce waste
📸 Capturing and sharing community moments to build shared memories
🎁 Leveraging the sociological concept of “gifting” to foster emotional bonds and encourage meaningful interactions
The project was a collaboration between students from The University of Melbourne, RMIT, UNSW, and Monash University—a fantastic example of cross-institutional teamwork in designing socially meaningful robotic solutions.
Congratulations to Murphy and the team for their inspiring work toward a more connected and sustainable world!
#HRI2025 #StudentDesignChallenge #RobotsForSustainability #NeighborKoala #HumanRobotInteraction #CommunityRobotics #GiftingEconomy
