iTech Post covers current social robots used in schools around the world. From Canada to China, teachers are getting new assistants to help engage students. In China over 200 kindergarten schools have introduced Keeko, a small white robot, to children. Keeko, created by Xiamen ZhiTong Technology, helps students understand language, mathematics, and reading. In the Youtube video that iTech Post links, CNN visits MIT Personal Robotic group to learn about the Dragon-bots and other robotic projects used to teach children.
“Across all of these industries there’s this real challenge,” Cynthia Brazil, the head of the MIT group tells CNN. “The demand is going up, up, up, but the supply of institutions or the human resource professionals are not projected to come close to meeting that demand. So we need technology to step in and fill that gap.”
This gap is even more pronounced when looking at current statistics for children born with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), 1 in every 68 children born are diagnosed with autism, and there is a lack of successful treatments with traditional therapy. In West Vancouver, schools have decided to take a different approach by enlisting 5 robots from RoboKind. Milo and Robots4Autism are bridging the gap between education and ASD learners while at the same time, much like Keeko, teaching children essential life skills.
Check out iTech Post to learn more about other social robots.