Buddy, the inclusive education robot avatar of sick children,
at the heart of inclusive school concept

Continuing your education, even while hospitalized and keeping in touch with your class, it is already possible thanks to Buddy, the inclusive education robot avatar of sick children.

NEVER WITHOUT MY CLASS: 1750 BUDDY inclusive education ROBOTS DELIVERED TO ALL ACADEMIES IN METROPOLITAN FRANCE AND OVERSEAS DEPARTMENTS

Buddy, the emotional and inclusive education robot, joined the TED-i program (“Working together remotely and in interaction”), an innovative inclusive tele-education system of 4,000 telepresence robots, made available by the French Ministry of National Education, serving the educational support of students prevented by serious and long-term illnesses.

Funded by the Investments for the Future Program (PIA 2) and managed by the General Secretariat for Investment (SGPI), this program serving an inclusive school was extended to all academies in spring 2021, after awarded a public contract relating to the supply, delivery and maintenance of robotic tele-presence systems.

Mainly intended to support students who are unable to attend their class from kindergarten to middle school, Buddy robots allow students to be “tele-present” remotely.

Thus, no fewer than 1,750 Buddy robots, entirely designed and manufactured in France, have been delivered to academies in metropolitan France and overseas departments.

“Not only they participate in all teaching activities, but they can interact with their environment. Tele-presence robots allow them to move, exchange and register their presence within establishments, which they continue to occupy “physically” .

Jean-Michel BLANQUERFormer Minister of National Education (1)

TED-i : AN INCLUSIVE SCHOOL PROJECT, unique IN THE WORLD

“ It’s this socialisation that is essential, at all ages and throughout life. This socialisation of which young people suffering from serious and long-term illnesses are deprived of.”

Pr. Albert-Claude BENHAMOU (1)

Each year, nearly 11,000 students injured or suffering from a chronic or long-term illness are educated in hospital and health establishments, according to the Ministry of National Education (2)

The Ministry of National Education therefore gave birth to the TED-i program in 2021 with the aim of promoting the inclusion of children “hospitalized or kept at home”.

This national TED-i program concerns an initial allocation of 4,000 robotic telepresence systems. They intended to be allocated to children and young people, from kindergarten to university, who are prevented by illness, hospitalized or kept in chronic care at home.

TED-i aims to mitigate the consequences of the break with the school or training environment of isolated young people. In order to facilitate their return to class, both for learning and for the pursuit of real inclusion and socialisation.

Zoom on the telepresence SERVIce with Buddy the inclusive education robot

Buddy provides an immersive experience for the remote user, transcending physical distance, and making him feel emotionally connected with others.

Its sleek and smooth design, with its softly curved body, its large sparkling eyes and its smile radiating the atmosphere, arouses empathy and the desire to interact.

Equipped with a multitude of sensors, cameras, speakers, microphones, Buddy can move, detect obstacles, or even feel caresses, allowing natural interaction.

Indeed, Buddy’s telepresence feature can instantly place the user anywhere in the world at a remote location, providing physical presence through virtual engagement. This helps connect the user to others, in a unique way, that traditional video conferencing products cannot offer.

At school, like a real classmate, Buddy is not content to be a simple face-to-face device for the sick child. Buddy allows to create a social link through its emotional design, adapted to children to be accepted as a real classmate.

Children are very sensitive to Buddy’s design. They consider it as a real living being, and thus give the impression that the absent student is physically present. Moreover, the sick child is valued by the use of the robot.

The Buddy robot generates empathy from other students. Expected effects are also the development of solidarity and attention.

a Unique avatar inclusive education robot

Buddy becomes the eyes, ears and voice of the distant student to help him continue his education and continue to participate remotely in class activities.

From the hospital room or place of convalescence, Buddy allows the remote student to interact with his class. Emitting signs of interactivity (moods, messages, requests to speak, etc.), to move around the classroom or even follow his classmates during recess, in the canteen or on school outings.

Buddy acts as the child’s avatar, controlling it remotely via a tablet, allowing him to interact with classmates and the teacher, using movements and emotions in addition to real-time video communication.

THE SUCCESS IS THERE! SEE BUDDY the inclusive education robot in action

First feedback highlighted tangible benefits for the students benefiting from the TED-i system and resulted in strong satisfaction from the students, their families and the teaching staff.

Numerous benefits have been demonstrated both on a social and educational level for sick students.

They benefited from Buddy the inclusive education robot. discover what they think!

Without a doubt, the social usefulness of Buddy no longer needs to be proven, given the numerous rave testimonials from the various stakeholders of the TED-i program, attesting the positive impact of the system on the inclusion of sick children. .

teachers

“ The process is simple. Nael connects to Buddy using the pilot tablet. He can thus be immersed in the class, follow the lessons and even express himself! Kids easily operates the robot remotely and is therefore perfectly integrated into the class. For Nael’s parents, the Buddy robot is reassuring because there is no break in learning.”

Miss NAKIELNY Teacher in elementary schoolPaul Verlaine – Gandrange – Nancy-Metz Academy

families

“This Buddy gave us a breath of fresh air every day. Buddy made my child feel a bit like any other child who has a class and friends. When he entered the small section, my son was known throughout the school. His friends were happy to see him in real life. After his return to school went very well. His teacher told me: it looks like Amine has been present in class all year. It was a real pleasure for me as a mother to see my son flourishing in his class after the difficult ordeals he underwent.[…] Continue to bring joy to our children through this system. You don’t realize how you can change our lives.”

Amine’s mother

students

“I’m happy to have this because I can be with the others”

JuliaCollege student

“It’s not complicated and it’s fun […] more practical than if the lessons were brought to me by someone else. It’s better. And the most important thing is that I can still see my friends”

GabrielStudent in elementary school

AN INCLUSIVE PROJECT EXported BEYOND BORDERS AND SCHOOLS

Avatar Kids PROJECT

Building on this first success with the Ministry of National Education, Blue Frog Robotics has extended its inclusive telepresence offer to more markets, notably in Switzerland with the “Avatar Kids” project, in collaboration with its partner Avatarion Technology AG and the Fondation Planète Enfants Malades whose mission is to improve the daily lives and well-being of some 8,500 children and adolescents treated or hospitalized each year in the Lausanne pediatric departments of the CHUV.

The Avatar Kids project consists of providing families of children treated or hospitalized at the CHUV with the Buddy robot which will become the avatar of a child within a class in the event of prolonged absences of this sick child.

Thanks to the support of the company Avatarion which distributes Buddy in Switzerland, the robot is made available to the child and his family by the Fondation Planètes Enfants Malades which aims to brighten up the daily lives of children and adolescents hospitalized at the CHUV and the Children’s Hospital.

To date, the Fondation Planètes Enfants Malades has already deployed this project in the cantons of Vaud, Neuchâtel, Fribourg, Jura and Valais.

FROM THE STERILE ROOM TO THE HOME, Buddy the inclusive education robot

Buddy also maintains the family link, thanks to the collaboration with the association The Hope of Princesse Manon, in conjunction with the team of the hemato-oncology department of the Toulouse University Hospital.

Buddy is deployed within the family home. Using a tablet available in the hospital room, the young patient can call Buddy to connect to it in order to see and hear what is happening at his home.

He can move Buddy as he wishes and depending on what is happening at his place : in the bedroom of one of his brothers or sisters to play remotely with him or her, in the dining room to take part in discussions during the family meal, in the living room to have a snack at the same time as his siblings. With Buddy, it is also possible to create a photo gallery of moments experienced by the family during which the child is not present. He can therefore watch them whenever he wants.

Doctor

“We welcomed Buddy with a lot of hope about what it could bring to our patients in protective isolation. […] The psychological aspect plays an important part in the long and complicated care journey for a child. He must be a fighter to the end and if his moral drops, the treatment will perhaps be less tolerated Buddy has a real beneficial effect, a socio-physiological impact on the child and his siblings. It reduces the feeling of distance and exclusion for the family.”

Doctor Cécile BoulangerPediatrician at Toulouse University Hospital, specializing in hematology-oncology