Learning with Companion Robots New-age Education is Here!

Millennial parents are witnessing a revolution in the way their kids receive education in schools and at home. Gone are the days of learning by rote, learning for the sake of marks and sitting through lectures where there is no interaction between students and teachers. Modern learning is all about playful learning, a known method to develop observational and critical reasoning abilities in the child. Informal teaching methods such as field visits for understanding through practical experiences have proven effective to pique the interest of the imaginative minds of school-going kids. Learning has become fun with educational aids such as toys, games, videos, spending time with nature, individual and group activities. Studies show amazing results of non-conventional teaching methods, making traditional methods as obsolete as chalk and blackboards. Kids, when given access to real-world experiences where they can apply what they learn in the classroom, develop precious skills such as presence of mind, developing a strong intuition, quick grasping, networking which are necessary to thrive in college, career and beyond. rnArtificial intelligence and robotics are further redefining education and taking it several notches up with companion robots for kids. These robots are meant to meet the developmental needs of children. They can make school lessons interesting by engaging kids in interesting conversations and even understand and recognize their speech and expressions. Kids can now learn the fundamentals of coding & understand mathematical problems in a simple way and get access to relevant knowledge with the help of these robots, ensuring quality education. Companion robots for kids are also enabled to be emotionally intelligent and can recognize moods, like and dislikes and the unique personality of each children and act accordingly. These robots can play games with kids and tell stories, play music for them and act as their personal assistants, helping parents and teachers to make learning time fun and interesting for the kids. These robots are also helping children with special needs to set the pace of learning according to their special abilities and bridge the gap that conventional teaching methods have so far failed to address. Emotix, a Mumbai-based advanced robotics company is the maker of the Miko companion robot. The robot educates, entertains and engages kids. Miko has a very kid-friendly appearance with emotive expressions and a lovable voice with which it can interact with children on its own and hold long conversations. Conversational learning is an effective method to develop language and speech skills of the child and the child tends to remember facts better when taught with the talk-and-learn approach. The robot is loaded with not just educational content based on various school boards but also has fun-facts about the world. Full of fun, it has music, games, stories, jokes and tricks such as the moonwalk, to keep the child entertained in a safe-environment unlike mobiles, tablets, laptops and TVs where the content is not designed especially for kids. What is most interesting is that the robot is emotionally intelligent and can identify and remember the child’s moods and personality and act accordingly. It’s amazing how much a technology can do. Children in the growing age have a lot of curiosity and a quick grasping. An educational aid can help fire the child’s imagination and give wings to her dreams!