Studying a Tele-Presence Robot Installed into a Hospital Classroom

Abstract

Recently, various technologies were released that have possibilities to improve educational settings. To help children who are in the hospital classroom, we introduced the tele-presence robot, OriHime, into a pilot classroom. It enables communication between the children who are isolated in the bedroom from their classroom to avoid becoming infected by others. However when we introduced OriHimeto the hospital classroom, it was not automatically included in educational activities because there is a system that requires collective approval by other relevant persons, including other teachers and medical staff. In this case study, we tried to understand the situation that teachers in hospital schools confront when they attempted to integrate a tele-presence robot into their classroom. We arrived at two conclusions: 1) Proceed with the installation process deliberately, and 2) Adapt the tele-presence robot appropriately to the setting of each hospital classroom.