Thursday, September 5, 2013

Going to School Via a Robot

The Sun Sentinel (serving Broward and Palm Beach Counties of Florida) tells the story of Kyle Weintraub, a 12-year-old seventh grader from Davie, Florida who is being treated for cancer at Children's Hospital in Philadelphia. It is expected that his treatment might last a year.

But Kyle is not missing school, thanks to a VGo robot that he controls remotely from Philadelphia and gives Kyle a real presence in his classroom. The robot, which cost $6,000 and about $1,200 a year in maintenance costs, allows Kyle's robot avatar to take him into his classes at the David Posnack Hebrew Day School some 1,200 miles away.

Here is a link to the article in the Sun Sentinel.

We wish Kyle all the BEST and congratulate the folks at VGo for giving Kyle a way to go to school this year.