The robots were developed in-house at the private Indus International School in the city, which is known as the Silicon Valley of India. A team of 18 computer engineers designed and built the robots from light-weight 3D printed material with imported smart servo motors.
“It has taken our team nearly two years to design and develop these robots with software, hardware and AI to make them teaching assistants and allowing the human teacher to be more relevant in the classroom so that they can focus on the child and not the subjects alone", said Vignesh Rao, Chief Design Officer of Indus International School.
Rao said the 5-foot-7 inch robots, are dressed as female teachers. These robots will never replace teachers, but they will share the everyday responsibilities of a teacher. This will allow teachers sufficient time to focus more on concepts, their relevance and application and mentoring the students. He claimed, it is the first school in the world to introduce the Collaborative Learning Model (CLM).
“The AI-enabled robots teach lessons in Biology, Chemistry, Geography, History and Physics to classes 7-9. As per the Collaborative Learning Model, the man-machine team, comprising a teacher, students and robot collaborate in the classroom to deliver a lesson", said Rao.
“We have programmed the interactive robots to answer questions students frequently ask on the subjects and related to them. With AI in play, they are able to respond to questions and doubts of our wards after a lesson are taught", he added.
The private school has 25 students in each of the four sections for Classes 7-9 and it is affiliated with the Geneva-based International Baccalaureate Institute and follows its syllabus, which is recognised worldwide.