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Researchers at the Institute of Technology at the University of Tartu are developing a social robot that supports learning and that students can assemble themselves at low cost.
Statistics show that 60% of university students globally struggle with motivation during their studies1. That’s about 11 million students in Europe alone. Students often have many goals to meet: keep track of courses, manage their time, stay motivated while having a good understanding of course materials. Many times, students feel isolated during this process. What if every student had their own personal study companion that listens, encourages and adapts to their learning style?
As a part of doctoral studies, Farnaz Baksh is leading the Robotic Study Companion (RSC) Project. She is creating the world’s first open-source, affordable study companion robot for university students. Prototypes are research-backed and created to be low-cost, customizable, and multimodal2.
Robot interacts through speech, motion, light, and touch, so it can listen, respond, and express emotions to motivate. Unlike commercial robots that cost up to 10,000 euros, their design uses off-the-shelf parts and is fully open source, meaning any student, anywhere, can build one for about 250 euros.
The first prototype has been open hardware certified, and multiple design awards have been received. The robotic study companion is now being replicated by students for their own thesis and research projects. Prototype integrates OpenAI’s conversational interface, leveraging its capacity to simplify complex concepts and enhance human–AI interaction.
Students don’t just want a robot handed to them; they want to co-create it. They want to learn electronics, 3D printing, and deploy language models on the robot. On the research side, they’ve tested 78% of students who believe the RSC could make them more effective self-learners3.
Farnaz Baksh is contributing to research showing that social-educational robots can increase motivation and engagement, while making robotics affordable and scalable. Robotic Study Companion has become both a learning and developmental tool, one that encourages students across continents to engage in active learning. Every student can co-create their own personalised, secure, and portable study companion that grows with them.
Robotic Study Companion Research Overview
This article is written by Farnaz Baksh, who is a Junior Research Fellow in Computer Engineering at the University of Tartu´s Institute of Technology and was written as part of the 3-Minute Thesis Competition.
- Global education monitoring report, 2023: technology in education: a tool on whose terms? 2023, https://doi.org/10.54676/UZQV8501 ↩︎
- Baksh, F.; Zorec, M.B.; Kruusamäe, K. Open-Source Robotic Study Companion with Multimodal Human–Robot Interaction to Improve the Learning Experience of University Students. Appl. Sci. 2024, 14, 5644. https://doi.org/10.3390/app14135644 ↩︎
- Baksh, F., Jackson, I., Jackson, I., Zorec, M.B. (2025). University Students’ Acceptance of a Robot Study Companion. In: Balogh, R., Obdržálek, D., Fachantidis, N. (eds) Robotics in Education. RiE 2025. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, vol 1544. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-98762-5_5 ↩︎
