A very special student is attending a lesson at Moscow's school number 166: Stepan, a plastic robot, is in the classroom to help a little boy with leukaemia to follow the lesson through his eyes.
In the meantime, the real Stepan, a 12-year-old boy with big blue eyes and brown hair, sits in front of a computer at his home and takes an active part in the lesson with help of his plastic friend. Stepan Supin has been suffering from leukaemia for two years and his immune system is too fragile to allow him to leave home.
Equipped with a webcam, a microphone and a loudspeaker, the robot broadcasts in real time what happens in the classroom to the computer at the boy's home.
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A screen in front of the robot actually allows the human Stepan to intervene at any time to ask for the teacher's clarification or to answer a question, said teacher Alla Gevak. “I can change the robot's speed, to go slower or faster. I can move his head to look left or right. I really feel as if I am in the classroom,” said Stepan.
Designed in 2008 at a Moscow institute, the robot which costs $3,000, can receive orders remotely via the Internet from anywhere in the world, said the project coordinator Vyacheslav Kravtsov.