Review of the Usage of Telepresence Robots in Education

The usage of telepresence robots can have a huge positive impact on education. They can provide remote access to the classrooms. This would be really helpful for students who are absent from school. It was especially noticeable during this period of the Covid-19 pandemic. This technology can complement the online teaching with displaying classroom boards, performing laboratory exercises that require better view and movement, and so on. Here, we show the usage of telepresence robots in education and cases when robots can be used for remote learning. The main goal of this paper is to provide a comprehensive review of studies related to the application of telepresence robots in education in the last 4 years

Teachers’ Perception for Integrating Educational Robots and Use as Teaching Assistants in Thai Primary Schools

This study focused on teachers’ perception for integrating educational robots into learning and the feedback of teachers and students who used an education robot prototype as a part of learning. Data were collected from 510 primary school teachers who were used in a confirmatory analysis of factor model. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) indicated a good fit with a six-factor model in the observed data, which could be presented through six dimensions of robotic education quality, including social interaction, cognitive function, teaching method, learner characteristics, main features, and content. The prototype-testing phase was carried out using 5th grade students at a primary school in Thailand. The robot was tested for 10 hours, which included 20 students participating in the focus group. The research results showed that integrating the six dimensions of robotic education into the educational robot prototype resulted in a strong positive improvement in the focus groups learners’ behavior and supported the instructors during the learning process. In contrast, some teachers lacked experience and confidence with robots integrated with LMS, which caused challenging obstacles in teaching. The results were achieved when integrating the six-factor model into education robots to improve student learning. Future researchers should expand their studies to look into the opportunities and challenges that teachers and school administrators face in the classroom. Doi: 10.28991/esj-2021-SP1-09 Full Text: PD

Implementation and Application of Artificial Intelligence in Selected Public Services

Data-intensive technologies, such as artificial intelligence, imply huge opportunities for transforming the delivery of healthcare and social services, improving people’s quality of life and working in the health and welfare system. The aim of this paper is to present examples of the implementation of artificial intelligence techniques in healthcare and social services and to sketch the trends and challenges in the adoption of artificial intelligence techniques, with an emphasis on the public sector and selected public services. Analysis is based on a realistic assessment of current artificial intelligence technologies and their anticipated development. Besides the benefits and potential opportunities for healthcare and social services, there are also challenges for governments. Understanding the huge potential of artificial intelligence as well as its limitations will be a key step forward, but it is essential to avoid the trap of an overestimation of artificial intelligence potential

Using the Engagement Profile to Design an Engaging Robotic Teaching Assistant for Students

We report on an exploratory study conducted at a graduate school in Sweden with a humanoid robot, Baxter. First, we describe a list of potentially useful capabilities for a robot teaching assistant derived from brainstorming and interviews with faculty members, teachers, and students. These capabilities consist of reading educational materials out loud, greeting, alerting, allowing remote operation, providing clarifications, and moving to carry out physical tasks. Secondly, we present feedback on how the robot’s capabilities, demonstrated in part with the Wizard of Oz approach, were perceived, and iteratively adapted over the course of several lectures, using the Engagement Profile tool. Thirdly, we discuss observations regarding the capabilities and the development process. Our findings suggest that using a social robot as a teaching assistant is promising using the chosen capabilities and Engagement Profile tool. We find that enhancing the robot’s autonomous capabilities and further investigating the role of embodiment are some important topics to be considered in future work

Robot e cobot nell’impresa e nella scuola

The book deals with the transversal theme of hymn-technological development through robots and cobots, the introduction of which crosses now business, scholastic and educational contexts. Starting from an introduction aimed at questioning what is meant from for innovation and what could be the minimum conditions for it we can actually speak of innovative contexts, the volume takes the distances from techno-enthusiastic or techno-critical approaches assumed a priori and suggested manages a departure from a win win perspective at any cost which does not properly reflect on some crucial issues in supporting the innovative processes, including the training of workers (in primis), the legal perspectives, as well as the needs in the terms of new tools to ensure the management of health and safety at work. The volume continues by addressing the potential of collaborative robots in helping people to carry out more or less complex tasks, ibid including learning; therefore, some uses of robotics are presented in educational contexts of school or higher education where robotics could be used as a tool to support people with autism, contrast bullying phenomena, help develop skills transversal and space-time trends, also through the use of the so-called swarm robotics. Despite the difference of languages and specific perspectives that distinguish the different chapters, the volume is oriented to a reader curious and aware that business, school and university can play the their game in synergy, learning to listen to each other and to reflect more frequently-mind about the challenges that unite them

Robot e cobot nell’impresa e nella scuola

The book deals with the transversal theme of hymn-technological development through robots and cobots, the introduction of which crosses now business, scholastic and educational contexts. Starting from an introduction aimed at questioning what is meant from for innovation and what could be the minimum conditions for it we can actually speak of innovative contexts, the volume takes the distances from techno-enthusiastic or techno-critical approaches assumed a priori and suggested manages a departure from a win win perspective at any cost which does not properly reflect on some crucial issues in supporting the innovative processes, including the training of workers (in primis), the legal perspectives, as well as the needs in the terms of new tools to ensure the management of health and safety at work. The volume continues by addressing the potential of collaborative robots in helping people to carry out more or less complex tasks, ibid including learning; therefore, some uses of robotics are presented in educational contexts of school or higher education where robotics could be used as a tool to support people with autism, contrast bullying phenomena, help develop skills transversal and space-time trends, also through the use of the so-called swarm robotics. Despite the difference of languages and specific perspectives that distinguish the different chapters, the volume is oriented to a reader curious and aware that business, school and university can play the their game in synergy, learning to listen to each other and to reflect more frequently-mind about the challenges that unite them