Dentsu Ventures, the Japanese venture capital fund, has made a $3m investment in US social robot development start-up Jibo, as part of its objective to support companies which can further innovation across the group.

Founded by Dr. Cynthia Breazeal, professor at the Massachusetts Institute of

Technology, Jibo is seeking to build a machine that is capable of providing companionship and instilling rapport amongst family members.

The cash will support the business by leveraging the group’s capabilities to provide problem solving solutions and resources to further the development of Jibo’s social robot, a machine which incorporates voice and emotion recognition, natural language processing, machine learning and expressive display and movement.

Dentsu Ventures believe that the technology can evolve into a new way of assimilating information, potentially serving as an infrastructure and communication hub in the phone.