Lecture 11: Applications in education and assistive robotics

Question 1

What are some reasons why robots should be used in education?

Answer 1

Shrinking school budgets

More pupils per classroom

Remote teaching

Social behaviour for learning (helps students engage more)

Learning gains increase when interacting with physical systems

Question 2

Which robot is the most efficient social robot?

Answer 2

Nao due its humanoid appearance

Question 3

Give an example of a robot used in education.

Answer 3

A robot teaching mathematics was evaluated. The robot’s main subject area was to teach sorting prime numbers. There are 2 worked examples in every lesson. Social robot, with personal gaze, has same effect as having no robot, but non-social has greater improvement. This could be due to that the socialrobot causes distraction and higher pressure due to expectations.

Question 4

What are advantages and disadvantages of having social robots?

Answer 4

Advantages:
- Allows one-to-one tutoring
- Patience, no judgement, repetition
- Can be applied to special needs cases, such as learning disabilities

Disadvantages:
- Expensive and require maintenance
- Have limitations
- Not always the right solution

Question 5

Give an example of robots in healthcare.

Answer 5

Aurora is used for children with autism

Question 6

Give an example of robots in social care.

Answer 6

The Turing Manchester Workshop for robots as companions for older people