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University of Twente puts robots to long-term use in (special) education
Researchers at the University of Twente have discovered that primary school children in both regular and special needs schools make strides when they learn together with a robot. On 30 April both Daniel Davison and Bob Schadenberg will obtain their PhDs from UT, with comparable research but working in different contexts.
Whereas Davison’s robot worked independently at a Montessori primary school, Schadenberg took his robot lab, with explanations, to a special class for autistic children. Davison: “As far as I know our Zeno robot is the first to have spent this long – four months – working independently in a classroom. Our results show that social robots have the potential not just to help educate children but to improve their mindset with regard to their own learning process and intelligence. We also saw that children returned to the robot for help with their tasks throughout the entire period, even after the initial novelty had worn off. This is a very promising result, and it paves the way for more of this kind of long-term research.”