Calligraphy robot - AI used to improve children's handwriting

W/S Kid with robot that enhances children's handwriting skills, Lausanne
*UPSOUND* Robot (French): "Hi Nolan, my name is Nao. I have handwriting problems, can you help me?"
M/S Robot with kid
C/U Kid writing
SOT, Thibault Asselborn, researcher and developer of the project (French): "There’s a robot and a kid. The robot writes very badly and the roles will be inverted. So the kid becomes the teacher for the robot, who has writing problems. The robot starts writing on a tablet, he writes very badly, the kid comes and his goal is to correct the robot. For the first time in his life, since he has writing problems, he will have the capacity to help someone, and this will motivate him to write."
M/S Kid writing on tablet
C/U Kid writing
C/U Tablet (French): "Congratulations, you won!"
SOT, Thibault Asselborn, researcher and developer of the project (French): "The kid writes on the tablet, then the Artificial Intelligence comes into play and offers a multitude of scores that describe the writing based on several parameters."
C/U Score parameters on tablet *CUTAWAY*
SOT, Thibault Asselborn, researcher and developer of the project (French): "Depending on the profile of the kid’s writing, we are going to be able to adapt the remediation or offer the therapist a way more accurate analysis, which will allow him to choose the exercises."
C/U Robot
M/S Kid writing with robot
C/U Kid writing on tablet
M/S Kid writing
M/S Kid with tablet
SOT, Nolan, kid (French): "Honestly, playing with this robot and try to make him learn to write was really, really good. I loved it.'
C/U Robot
C/U Kid with robot
M/S Child psychiatrist Thomas Gargot looking at kid writing
C/U Robot *UPSOUND* Robot (French): "Can you show me how to write that word"
SOT, Thomas Gargot, child psychiatrist (French): "The idea is to prevent a 'snowball effect' where when the kid does not write well, it has repercussions on other subjects, and it has later repercussions on his behaviour, and potentially, at that moment, we can see them in child psychiatry [consultation]."
W/S Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) building
W/S EPFL
W/S Gargot with robot
C/U Robot blinking
C/U Kid with robot
M/S Robot moving
C/U Robot *UPSOUND* Robot (French): "Goodbye"
SCRIPT
A robot developed by researchers at the Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) and University of Lisbon helps children improve their handwriting. Footage filmed in Lausanne on Tuesday shows a session in which the robot assists 10-year-old Nolan.
Thibault Asselborn, one of the researchers and developers behind the project, explained how the autonomous system functions. "There’s a robot and a kid. The robot writes very badly and the roles will be inverted. So the kid becomes the teacher for the robot, who has writing problems," he said.
"The robot starts writing on a tablet, he writes very badly, the kid comes and his goal is to correct the robot. For the first time in his life, since he has writing problems, he will have the capacity to help someone, and this will motivate him to write," he added.
After the child writes on the tablet, the robot uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) to analyse the writing and give scores "based on several parameters," therefore offering solutions that are adapted to each learner.
Nolan shared his enthusiasm with the method used. "Honestly, playing with this robot and trying to make him learn to write was really, really good. I loved it," he said.
Child psychiatrist Thomas Gargot described how bad handwriting can create a 'snowball effect.' "It has repercussions on other subjects, and it has later repercussions on his behaviour, and potentially, at that moment, we can see them in child psychiatry [consultation]."