NAO, a Humanoid Robot Designed for Distance Education, Helps Kids Stay Social

Jonas is a 7 year old kid from Switzerland. Just like an average kid, he smiles a lot. But many, including you, may find his smile powerful.

Jonas is currently battling leukemia, a cancer of the blood cells. Generally, leukemia is treatable with a combination of therapies, such as chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and more, which can be unimaginably tough to deal with, more so for a kid. So his smile can make us feel very humble.

Even though every second of Jonas’ life is extraordinary, what Jonas wants is nothing extraordinary. He simply wants to spend some time with his friends at school, which anyone can understand. Especially for many kids who are going through an extensive treatment at hospitals like Jonas, it is extremely important that they stay connected and maintain their social skills.

Now, there is a project called ‘Avatar Kids’ which was established by the University Children’s Hospital Basel, and Kindercity (a child advocacy organization), and  in partnership with Samsung and Swisscom. After extensive research, Avatar Kids launched the humanoid robot designed for distance education, NAO.

NAO is much smaller than most children, but big enough for kids to walk with while holding hands. It can dance and show off some martial art moves. One thing that is noticeable in terms of its look is its slightly squashed head and big ears. It definitely makes it look non-threatening, and its head is what can help kids like Jonas.

NAO’s ears and eyes allow kids like Jonas to listen and see what is happening in class. However, that is not all. With the specially developed software by Samsung and other developers, kids can control the robot with the Galaxy NotePro or Galaxy TabPro.

This software allows kids to turn the robots head, raise its hand, and save/capture a screen of the tablet as a jpg file. This means that kids can actively and interactively participate in classes (which also means, fortunately and unfortunately, turning in homework.) Moreover, users can place the Galaxy S4 mini on top of NAO’s head so that students can see each other.  

This project was getting attention in the medical and education field even in its pilot stage. Eventually, this great story of Jonas and NAO made it to the mass media in Switzerland, moving people emotionally and socially. It gave people a great expectation with regard to further collaboration between innovative technologies and advocacy groups.

Not being able to socialize with friends and family has negative effect on adults, physically and mentally, so it can definitely be even more critical for kids like Jonas; at worst it can interfere with the treatment process. Therefore, it is important for kids to stay connected to the outside world while they are being treated at the hospital, so they can adjust/assimilate quicker when they become healthy again. 

Samsung is planning to expand and enhance the ‘Avatar Kids’ project, to help kids thrive.