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A school where humans, robots teach in harmony

Abu Dhabi - Robots teach grades 3 to 12 in Abu Dhabi school.

Humanoid, quadruped, hexapod, flying and pet robots are part of the staff at Merryland International School in Musaffah in the Capital.
They teach maths, medicine and engineering; and they look after the students and entertain them.
"We have 30 different types of robots in the school and 50 of them in total," said Vijoy Varkey, head of the department of robotics at Merryland International School. "We got most of them from Spain and Japan, but also from China and (the) US."
According to Varkey, Merryland is the first school in the UAE to introduce robots in the classrooms. The artificial intelligence (AI) ones are capable of teaching and interacting with children.
A school keen on innovation and 21st century teaching methods, Merryland brought its first robots to classrooms in 2014, when it also built a robotic lab - another first for UAE schools - and added quite a few more robots this year.
Now, robots are used in the school's classrooms all the way from grade three to 12.
There is NAO, a 58cm tall humanoid, which can walk, catch small objects and even dance. A star in the world of education in more than 70 countries, NAO is used in maths, computer and science classes, from primary school through to university. At Merryland, its main job is to teach maths to children with special needs.
Another "teacher" is the puppy-faced, social AISoy robot, programmed to teach maths in grades three and four.
"We also have a special robot that our children built, which acts like a security officer. Its name is HOVIS and it can go to the first and second floor of the school, taking and sending live videos and pictures," said Varkey. "There is also a pet dog robot for children to play with. It can show different types of emotions and recognise emotions in children, being able to tell if they are sad or tired or happy."
Not all of the school's robots are AI, though. From as early as grade three, students get to learn about robotics, even build their own, having basic robotic skills like locomotion, navigation and sound.
Merryland's efforts to use robotics in classrooms as an exciting way to teach science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) to its students has paid off.
Not only has Merryland students won several awards in the Robotics Olympiad, last summer they won all 18 awards given in the UAE for Scratch (computer programming used in robotics) competitions.
"It's not just robotics. The school's management really invests a lot in cutting-edge technology and advanced teachings. Next year, for example, we are bringing a weather station to the school," said Varkey.
silvia@khaleejtimes.com

Meet the robot teachers
> NAO, a 58cm tall humanoid, can walk, catch small objects and even dance. At Merryland, NAO teaches maths to children with special needs
> AISoy, a puppy-faced robot, is programmed to teach maths in grades three and four
> HOVIS, a security officer robot, can go to the first and second floors of the school, taking and sending live videos and pictures