Developing a Cloud robotics infrastructure for a humanoid robotic teaching assistant

This project investigates the use of robotics in the classroom as a way to encourage interactivity amongst students. Building on work by the author that looked at the use of technology to add additional feedback mechanisms to the classroom, this work will describe a software framework for the Nao robot that allows a robotic teaching assistant placed in the classroom to act as a proxy for students, using input they provide via a smartphone/tablet application to show student reaction to the lesson and to ask questions. This paper begins this work by describing a prototype system demonstrating robot network connection functionality and a cloud based architecture for robotic control. This infrastructure can be built on to enable artificial intelligence interactions with robots in a variety of settings, such as assistant positions in corporations, or within an educational setting. Through experimental testing, this infrastructure will be assessed for its affect in the classroom and on the use of a robot as a teaching assistant. The proposed outcome of the work is a greater understanding of how robotics can be used to support a general set of classroom activities, beyond those conducted in the traditional computer science classroom.