School in Japan is turning into robots to address the growing number of school absences.
A school in Kumamoto, southwest Japan, will allow absent students to control telepresence robots in the classroom. Officials behind the initiative hope the setup will eventually encourage students to return to school, the Mainichi newspaper reported.
In the coming months, the pilot program will include two robots, each equipped with microphones, speakers, cameras and a tablet to enable two-way communication. The student at home will control the 1 meter tall robot via a computer.
By attaching wheels, the robots will even be able to move around the school, although they may need a hand to negotiate difficult obstacles such as stairs.
Kumamoto, like other parts of Japan, has seen a rise in school absenteeism over the past four years, with some of that attributed to mental and physical problems that have arisen during the pandemic.
Recent efforts by the city to improve the situation have included streaming classes to students at home in a virtual classroom. While the system has helped reduce anxiety among students reluctant to attend classes in person, telepresence robots are expected to help improve interaction between students at home and those in the classroom to make learning more natural, as well as help build confidence for an eventual return to class. . school.
“In addition to allowing them to observe lessons, the robots allow students to move around freely and interact with others as they wish,” a board of education spokesman told the Mainichi newspaper. “Hopefully this will help reduce the mental barriers of absent students.”
The trial is expected to last until March and should provide officials with enough data to determine whether the system should be rolled out more widely.
Although telepresence robots have been around for some time, they are not yet widely used. But this did not stop large companies such as Honda from studying this technology and introducing their own development.
Source: Digital Trends
I am Garth Carter and I work at Gadget Onus. I have specialized in writing for the Hot News section, focusing on topics that are trending and highly relevant to readers. My passion is to present news stories accurately, in an engaging manner that captures the attention of my audience.
