6 ms·

Robots could take place of pupils who cannot attend school in person

18 points by vitabenes 5y ago

cudgy 5y ago
What significant benefit is gained over using a small robot called a “video camera” in the classroom to film the lecture?
- lioeters 5y ago
  Sounds like it has a speaker, microphone, and possibly motors for moving parts? Calling it "telepresence" is a bit of a stretch, though..
  - psychomugs 5y ago
    This is a textbook definition of telepresence. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/telepresence https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/telepresence
- runarb 5y ago
  > What significant benefit is gained over using a small robot called a “video camera” in the classroom to film the lecture? The robot in the picture is a No Isolation AV1. It allows the pupil at to do a little more than a video camera. For example, to look around in the classroom and raise its hand by turning the robots head blue. More information on their website: https://www.noisolation.com/uk/av1/ https://www.noisolation.com/uk/av1/?
  - cudgy 5y ago
    I still do not see the benefit from this. Being able to look around the classroom has little benefit. Indicating that I have a question Can be done with a chat interface. This seems more like a Solution looking for a problem.
    - runarb 5y ago
      Thus robots are not meant as a replacement for virtual learning, but as a way for students to follow the normal education when they are temporarily away. For the last two years, I have been taking an MBA, and my school had thus robots. When students could not come to class, they could still attend by using a AV1. It is not so easy for the teachers to also have to do a virtual meeting simultaneously as teaching the regular class, so the alternative is often that the teachers just send out their slide deck to those that were not present, so the student can self-study. The robot also has batteries, so we took it with us to group work, lunches, and parties. Here is a picture of my group during the second covid surge, hammering away on our digital business model assignment: https://www.instagram.com/p/CCGS2lxhgcU/ https://www.instagram.com/p/CCGS2lxhgcU/ .
    - zulln 5y ago
      Maybe serve as a physical reminder for your friends that you are still part of the class to make it easier when you then get back? I think I agree with this being over-hyped, but trying to look for reasons it might be a good idea.
- psychomugs 5y ago
  Telepresence is a large subfield within human-computer interaction research; several studies have shown benefits of having this embodiment for both ends [1-3]. Intuiting through it, how easy is it to tune out another flat planar video screen versus a tangible physical object moving around in your shared space? [1] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S107158191500004X https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S107158191... [2] https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/2157689.2157699 https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/2157689.2157699 [3] https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/2559636.2559654 https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/2559636.2559654
  - tdeck 5y ago
    I'm skeptical. We used to have Beam telepresence robots in the office when I worked at Square. They were a novelty and people would try them soon after joining, but nobody used them. It was easier and more natural just to use Slack or video chat.
    - psychomugs 5y ago
      For now, sure, obviously it'll be more natural to use the mediums that are pervasive on commercially available devices that are backed by several industries-worth of engineers and developers, compared to some systems hacked together by handful of grad students in some lab somewhere or hardware startups in a very nascent stage. Hardware is hard, and these platforms are just beginning to explore the possible application spaces of which there is still a lot of research to be done. My personal view on many of these telepresence platforms is that they're basically roving tablets with limited embodied expressiveness and no manipulation capability, which are whole subfields of research in-and-of themselves, and that addressing these limitations will eke out more value of telepresence robots in the future. The point of research (ideally) shouldn't be an immediate VC-backable commercial application, but rather to explore possible futures viable 5-10+ years down the road.
deevolution 5y ago
The extreme lengths the state will go thru to make sure everyone is attending school... what's wrong with online/virtual learning? Imagine if you could select from the very best rather than being limited to your own school district.
- paulcole 5y ago
  > what's wrong with online/virtual learning This is a good question and one I don’t know the answer to. From the rest of your comment it seems like your answer might be “nothing.” Is that accurate or do you see issues with online/virtual learning?
- space_fountain 5y ago
  Online school has been horrible for many children’s educational outcomes this past year. Getting some of them to actually attend and pay attention has been impossible. Maybe in households with attentive available parents it would be fine, but as it is it’s helped to expand the education gap across the US
  - musicale 5y ago
    > Getting some of them to actually attend and pay attention has been impossible. The solution then is obviously to lock students in a room that they can't escape! Might not help with the attention part though (based on my own observation and experience.) Kids are curious and natural learners - I think we have to ask ourselves: how can we nurture this instinct rather than killing it?
    - space_fountain 5y ago
      I mean school should absolutely be better, but 13 year olds aren’t exactly known for making informed choices about their future and we have been trying the online school thing and the results don’t look good. We need to be evidence based about this and not just base it on what feels right or we think would have helped us
- musicale 5y ago
cheaprentalyeti 5y ago
Is this gonna be something like the Electric Monk from the Dirk Gently books?
mrtweetyhack 5y ago
Or a frog
la6471 5y ago
Now these kids will be bullied for ever and called robokid all their life !! Let’s simply do things the way they were :D

18 points by vitabenes 5y ago

What significant benefit is gained over using a small robot called a “video camera” in the classroom to film the lecture?

lioeters 5y ago
Sounds like it has a speaker, microphone, and possibly motors for moving parts? Calling it "telepresence" is a bit of a stretch, though..
- psychomugs 5y ago
  This is a textbook definition of telepresence. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/telepresence https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/telepresence
runarb 5y ago
> What significant benefit is gained over using a small robot called a “video camera” in the classroom to film the lecture? The robot in the picture is a No Isolation AV1. It allows the pupil at to do a little more than a video camera. For example, to look around in the classroom and raise its hand by turning the robots head blue. More information on their website: https://www.noisolation.com/uk/av1/ https://www.noisolation.com/uk/av1/?
- cudgy 5y ago
  I still do not see the benefit from this. Being able to look around the classroom has little benefit. Indicating that I have a question Can be done with a chat interface. This seems more like a Solution looking for a problem.
  - runarb 5y ago
    Thus robots are not meant as a replacement for virtual learning, but as a way for students to follow the normal education when they are temporarily away. For the last two years, I have been taking an MBA, and my school had thus robots. When students could not come to class, they could still attend by using a AV1. It is not so easy for the teachers to also have to do a virtual meeting simultaneously as teaching the regular class, so the alternative is often that the teachers just send out their slide deck to those that were not present, so the student can self-study. The robot also has batteries, so we took it with us to group work, lunches, and parties. Here is a picture of my group during the second covid surge, hammering away on our digital business model assignment: https://www.instagram.com/p/CCGS2lxhgcU/ https://www.instagram.com/p/CCGS2lxhgcU/ .
  - zulln 5y ago
    Maybe serve as a physical reminder for your friends that you are still part of the class to make it easier when you then get back? I think I agree with this being over-hyped, but trying to look for reasons it might be a good idea.
psychomugs 5y ago
Telepresence is a large subfield within human-computer interaction research; several studies have shown benefits of having this embodiment for both ends [1-3]. Intuiting through it, how easy is it to tune out another flat planar video screen versus a tangible physical object moving around in your shared space? [1] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S107158191500004X https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S107158191... [2] https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/2157689.2157699 https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/2157689.2157699 [3] https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/2559636.2559654 https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/2559636.2559654
- tdeck 5y ago
  I'm skeptical. We used to have Beam telepresence robots in the office when I worked at Square. They were a novelty and people would try them soon after joining, but nobody used them. It was easier and more natural just to use Slack or video chat.
  - psychomugs 5y ago
    For now, sure, obviously it'll be more natural to use the mediums that are pervasive on commercially available devices that are backed by several industries-worth of engineers and developers, compared to some systems hacked together by handful of grad students in some lab somewhere or hardware startups in a very nascent stage. Hardware is hard, and these platforms are just beginning to explore the possible application spaces of which there is still a lot of research to be done. My personal view on many of these telepresence platforms is that they're basically roving tablets with limited embodied expressiveness and no manipulation capability, which are whole subfields of research in-and-of themselves, and that addressing these limitations will eke out more value of telepresence robots in the future. The point of research (ideally) shouldn't be an immediate VC-backable commercial application, but rather to explore possible futures viable 5-10+ years down the road.

deevolution 5y ago

The extreme lengths the state will go thru to make sure everyone is attending school... what's wrong with online/virtual learning? Imagine if you could select from the very best rather than being limited to your own school district.

paulcole 5y ago
> what's wrong with online/virtual learning This is a good question and one I don’t know the answer to. From the rest of your comment it seems like your answer might be “nothing.” Is that accurate or do you see issues with online/virtual learning?
space_fountain 5y ago
Online school has been horrible for many children’s educational outcomes this past year. Getting some of them to actually attend and pay attention has been impossible. Maybe in households with attentive available parents it would be fine, but as it is it’s helped to expand the education gap across the US
- musicale 5y ago
  > Getting some of them to actually attend and pay attention has been impossible. The solution then is obviously to lock students in a room that they can't escape! Might not help with the attention part though (based on my own observation and experience.) Kids are curious and natural learners - I think we have to ask ourselves: how can we nurture this instinct rather than killing it?
  - space_fountain 5y ago
    I mean school should absolutely be better, but 13 year olds aren’t exactly known for making informed choices about their future and we have been trying the online school thing and the results don’t look good. We need to be evidence based about this and not just base it on what feels right or we think would have helped us
musicale 5y ago

cheaprentalyeti 5y ago

Is this gonna be something like the Electric Monk from the Dirk Gently books?

mrtweetyhack 5y ago

Or a frog

la6471 5y ago

Now these kids will be bullied for ever and called robokid all their life !! Let’s simply do things the way they were :D