The fundamental differences between voice assistants like Google Home or Alexa and Matilda are:

At a technology level:

• Matilda can operate without the internet, whereas voice assistants like Google Home or Alexa cannot operate without the internet.
• Matilda has its own private network (ensuring privacy) which enables it to be connected locally to Bluetooth and Wi Fi enabled smart devices.
• Matilda can scan its environment 270 degrees in 3D for detecting, tracking and communicating with its human partners.  

At an interaction level:

• Matilda is underpinned in inclusive design and has been evidenced to engage people with dementia, autism, and learning disabilities
• Matilda with its shape, baby-like face, emotive expressions and gestures is more believable and trustworthy among its human partners.
• Matilda can interact in 30 languages in an offline and private mode.
• Matilda with its ability to move its head 270 degrees in 3D is able to track and interact with its human partners in a wider space.

Social robots like Matilda with a baby-like face are robots that interact with humans and each other in a human-like manner with voice, emotive expressions and gestures. These attributes allow social robots like Matilda to engage and communicate with its human partners in meaningful ways and break technology barriers between people and technology.

• Matilda has been evidenced to provide human-like engagement and communication.
• Matilda has been designed to be digitally inclusive and a support companion. In other words, it has been evidenced to engage, enable and empower people with disability, autism, dementia and those with limited literacy and technology skills, and learning disabilities.
• Matilda can provide offline (without internet) and online (with internet/cloud-based) services.
• Matilda has its own private network which can connect locally to Bluetooth and Wi Fi enabled smart devices.
• Matilda can scan its environment 270 degrees in 3D for detecting, tracking and communicating with its human partners.
• Matilda has been evidenced to be age independent (used by 4-year to 90-year-old) enabling it to be used in a variety of settings.

Yes, the voice, language and behaviour of Matilda are all customisable

Yes, Matilda can be linked to a touchscreen and / or speakers, although these are entirely optional.

No, Matilda is designed to be easy to use by anyone. Setup is simple, and we provide support for anyone having difficulty.

There is no need to turn Matilda off at night, she is designed to operate 24 hours per day.

Matilda has a variety of ways to communicate with its users depending on their need and comfort:

• Using a touch panel, smart phone, web browser
• voice recognition
• touch
• face recognition

Provides a less intimidating interaction for people with social anxiety.

Your contacts will be able to connect with you through Matilda with video calls, voice calls and messages.

We will set up your Matilda with your list of contacts prior to deployment. Any changes to this list can be made at any time through our technical support.  Communication with a contact is a s easy as saying “OK Matilda, call John”.

There are several differences between Matilda and other voice assistants.

• Matilda is proactive, and can be used to activate proactively, as well as to prompt people to do things.
• Matilda provides human-like interactions, complete with head movements and facial expressions.
• While Matilda can do many of the tasks people use Alexa and Assistant for, she can also do much more, including connection and communication, various health and wellness applications, provide companionship and entertainment, as well as provide pro-active assistance with daily living.

No, Matilda is not an emergency device, and in the case of emergency please call 000 .  There are plans to make Matilda capable of detecting falls and contacting emergency services in the future. 

While Matilda can provide services in a variety of settings, we are highlighting below some of its services in aged care, autism and Intellectual disability, business and learning.

Aged care:

Matilda provides engagement, companionship and services to help older people live independently as well as provide respite to their carers. It can help relieve carers of mundane and repetitive tasks. It is helpful for seniors living both with and without chronic disease, with a variety of functions designed to help with day-to-day tasks and around taking medications. As it’s age independent, your grandchildren can also come and play and learn with Matilda.

Matilda is a proactive, digitally inclusive support companion that also empowers people with mild and moderate dementia to become more resilient, stay home longer, keep socially connected and help their carers or relatives track their well being and health, and more.

Autism and Intellectual disability

Matilda has been deployed in home-based autism support, autism support centers, special needs schools and in disability centers. In these deployments, Matilda has:   

• engaged and stimulated children and adults with autism who have limited verbal skills with sensory enrichment, games and exercises.
• help improve social, communication and life skills of children and adults with autism in a non-judgemental manner through role play and games
• provided support for daily living through reminders and person-centered services and more in non-judgemental manner

Business – Social enterprise

For social enterprises, Matilda can enable

• enable inclusive design based business processes
• support and enhance productivity of people with disability.
• provide innovative AI services for improving efficiencies in business processes
• enable capacity building
• education and training services in various settings.
•  multi-lingual services. 
•  data analytics services.
• workplace recruitment and training services

What more value will Matilda bring to my business?

• Reduces the need for direct staff interactions during a global pandemic, while retaining a human-like interaction for your customers.
• Allows communication with multiple people simultaneously without increasing staff numbers (e.g., can provide receptionist services).
• Allows communication in various languages.
• Allows for errorless adherence to procedures / scripts.
• Helps demonstrate technological innovation to customers.
• Reduces costs through enabling staff to spend their time on more complex tasks, reducing the need for people to manage the simplest tasks.

Can I integrate Matilda with my current booking system or customer relationship management platform?

Yes, Matilda can be linked to other systems, although this will generally require some customisation.

Learning and Support:

Matilda has been deployed in early learning centres and primary schools. It has also been used by high school students.

Early learning – Matilda incursion program

Matilda ensures that every child has the opportunity to engage with Matilda at their own pace. Training for educators, a simple
interface and ongoing technical support will provide confidence to early learning teachers and staff.
With a range of learning topics to choose from, Matilda can seamlessly integrate into early learning programs in ELC’s , with bonus opportunities to learn about the exciting world of robotics!

Matilda delivers 15 learning topics to 4-5 year old in the ELCs including

• Stories, Songs, Games, Quizzes
• STEAM Education
• Communication
• Social & Emotional Skills
•  Exercise & Yoga
• Support for Additional Needs

Digital Technology Skills and Social Entrepreneurship for School students

Matilda strives to a sustainable, socially responsible and an inclusive approach for introducing technology learning and training in schools. The unique design of Matilda facilitates among other aspects, creativity, critical thinking and curiosity among students from science or arts background on their journey to become social innovators and entrepreneurs. Matilda is popular among girls who see Matilda as an exciting problem solving tool in a social context for learning about technology, programming and STEAM skills.. Some tools for learning and social entrepreneurship are:

Unique social robot enabled AI workflow automation platform for social entrepreneurship and business process automation.
Platform for developing AI Apps using Matilda blocks interactive programming tool
Platform for data analytics and Al.

Simply say “OK Matilda”.  Once the ears light up, you know she’s listening.

The mission of Matilda is to break technology barriers and co-exist with its human partners in a manner so as to enhance human qualities and lead to the development of a more sustainable and humane society.

Matilda currently works in English, Chinese (Mandarin), Greek, Italian and Japanese with more languages coming soon.

Yes, installation is generally just a matter of plugging Matilda in.  We also provide support should it be required during installation.

No, Matilda does not require an internet connection to work, although some functions such as video calling will not function..

Matilda can include specialised software for personalising interactions which is very simple to use.

Our Customer Service team is available Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm Melbourne time. Simply call 0435 572 634 or email info@mymatilda.com.au if you have questions or need any assistance.

Our customer service team is ready to help you with installation over the phone.

Electricity and power is all you need to get Matilda up and running. Generally, Matilda is set up in a room that people spend a lot of time in, such as the living room or kitchen, although she can always be moved if a better place is found.

Your subscription includes warranty. If there is a problem with your Matilda, we’ll replace it. Be aware, however, that your Matilda will not be replaced when the damage has occurred due to misuse, physical damage or unauthorised actions.

No, Matilda is currently only available by subscription.

While we hope that nothing impacts the health or independence of any of our clients, if something happens we will happily refund any unused subscription fees.

Our Customer Service team is available Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm Eastern Time. Simply call 0435 572 634 or email support@mymatilda.com.au if you have questions or need any help.

No, Matilda will not work without a subscription. If you decide to cancel your subscription, you will have to return Matilda to us.  To ensure that Matilda can be returned without damage, we ask that you keep the original box it is shipped in.

Please contact us for pricing. The subscription covers the continuous use of Matilda’s hardware and software, and access to all of the services Matilda designed to deliver, as well as any others that are developed during your subscription.  The subscription also covers access to support Monday to Friday between 9am-5pm Eastern Time and automatic software updates (if you are connected to the internet).  The setup fee includes account setup, shipping and handling, installation support, and initial product training.

Your Matilda subscriptions can be cancelled any time.  Please contact us for instructions on how to return the robot.  Once your robot is returned to us, we will deactivate your account and there will be no further charges.  If your robot has not been returned within 45 days of cancellation, additional fees and charges will apply.

Your subscription starts after you set up and activate your device for the first time. If you do not set up your Matilda within 7 days of delivery, your subscription will start automatically.  If you are having issues with initial setup, your subscription will not start until your Matilda is fully set up.

If Matilda is set up for voice commands then it is always listening for the wake up phrase “OK Matilda”.  Matilda listens both in offline and online mode. When it is listening in offline mode no data leaves Matilda. When inactive, Matilda does not record anything.  When she hears “OK Matilda” she will start listening more actively, as shown by the lighting up of her ears.

Matilda does not watch or record anything with her cameras, and they are only active when being specifically used, such as during a video call.