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10/08/20

Robot hikes the Andes to cross Peru’s digital divide

robot Kipi
学生可以在秘鲁安第斯山脉或西班牙语中的母语Quechua中与Quechua的Kipi互动。版权所有：由沃尔特·维拉斯克斯（WalterVelásquez）提供。

Speed read

  • In a remote and dangerous region of Peru, a robot has taken over the classroom
  • In Peru, just 30 per cent of the population has stable internet access
  • Kipi the robot speaks local language, Quechua, and Spanish

经过：Zoraida Portillo

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[LIMA] In a remote village of the Peruvian Andes, a robot has taken over the classroom.

Created by a science and technology teacher, Kipi the robot speaks the local language, Quechua, as well as Spanish. Kipi is making sure that students do not miss out on classes that were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

在这个拥有3300万居民的国家，只有30％的人口具有稳定的互联网联系，农村地区缺乏电力。这意味着学生无法访问教育部在广播和电视上播放的虚拟课程。

Living conditions for remote and high-altitude communities in the Andes are precarious.
来源:由沃尔特·维拉斯。

“基皮是由于大流行而出生的，”老师沃尔特·维拉斯克斯（WalterVelásquez）告诉scidev.net。Velásquez正在从华盛顿州地区的一个地区Colcabamba打电话，海拔近3000米。The village is nestled in one of the most dangerous areas of the Peruvian Andes and is a corridor for drug trafficking and some remaining members of the rebel group Shining Path.

“In the third week of the quarantine, I was very concerned about my students,” says Velásquez. “I had given old radios to some of them but I know in their communities where they live there are not stores for buying batteries and there isn’t electricity either.

“我希望我的机器人成为女性，以向一个从她的社区走去近三个小时上学的女孩致敬。”

Walter Velásquez, science and technology teacher

“Also, some mothers in my district told me they were unable to help their kids with the ‘I learn at home’ classes [from the Ministry of Education] because they are illiterate and most of them do not speak Spanish. Some children also have autism or different abilities,” Velásquez says.

In Peru’s peasant communities, many mothers are illiterate and speak only Quechua. They are unable to help their children with their Spanish-language schooling.
来源:由沃尔特·维拉斯。

So, he quickly devoted himself to building a robot with whatever materials he had available at his Centre for Creativity and Inquiry. He created the centre ten years ago to draw students at his school, Santiago Antunez de Magiolo, towards science and technology.

Kipi was made with upcycled materials and simulates a 10-year-old girl.
来源:由沃尔特·维拉斯。

“我希望我的机器人成为女性，以致敬一个从社区走去近三个小时上学的女孩。

“Also, to highlight the women of role, because there is still great discrimination here — fathers and brothers are the first to eat; if it is necessary to pull out kids from school, girls are the first option before the boys. So, I wished to highlight the important role of women,” Velásquez explains.


来源:由沃尔特·维拉斯。

Upcycling

Kipi the robot is made from upcycled materials. Her backpack is a solar panel and she has been programmed to explain how it transforms solar energy into electricity, while encouraging students to make their own innovations using local materials, such as sticks or stones.
Velásquez说：“这样，孩子们就唤醒了他们对科学技术的兴趣。”
Kipi的电子零件是用无线电板，电视和小型电子卡建造的。为了对她的灯光和动作进行排序，Velásquez使用了Arduino卡（一个开源的电子平台），并装有KIPI，配备了智能应用程序，以启用与学生的互动。
Through a second-hand tablet, students can instruct Kipi to read poems, texts in both Quechua and Spanish, do gymnastics and dance. Kipi can laugh, or be sad if, for example, students do not wash their hands before beginning the class.

And because the students do not have printers, Velásquez has also made ‘Kipi books’ so they can practice reading..

As schools are closed because of the pandemic, classes with Kipi are held outdoors and socially distanced.
来源:由沃尔特·维拉斯。

Gaining access

随着学校的关闭，吉皮在科尔卡班巴的17个农民社区中的许多社区中的许多人，通常在河流脚下或被冰川包围。Velásquez将Kipi携带在M子，马或骆驼的后部，这是一种用于运输货物的Andean Camelid。

“Because of the lockdown all roads are closed, but they allow us to pass. ‘Here comes Kipi and the teacher, open up all the roadblocks’, the guards shout,” Velásquez says.

Kipi and her teacher cross mountain ranges using any transport available to reach high-altitude communities.
来源:由沃尔特·维拉斯。

目前，学校必须前往社区。但是，当课程重新开放时，Velásquez希望与创造力和询问中心的学生一起优化过程。
“It is very difficult to teach science and technology on a blackboard, that’s why you have to be resourceful, to prevent them from going to the ‘other side’,” he says, referring to the dangers that tempt young people in that Andean area.

Digital divide

For Johan Baldeón, professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru’s Faculty of Engineering, Velásquez’s efforts are inspiring and motivating for his students.

“这是一个范式转变。他正在做唤醒的事情，使学生以不同的方式看到自己的现实，并得知除了他们的直接环境以外的事情。”beplay足球体育的微博

Taking the school to the students is the aim of teacher Walter Velásquez (left).
来源:由沃尔特·维拉斯。

研究发展和互动工具在教育中的开发和应用的Baldeón告诉scidev.netthat the COVID-19 pandemic is shining a light on Peru’s digital divide — the inequalities in the distribution of, and access to, information and communications technologies.

"It also has to do with digital skills, that is, adequately prepared teachers and parents capable of accompanying their children in educational tasks,” he says.


来源:由沃尔特·维拉斯。