Robot helps sick schoolboy in Russian school

A very special student is attending a lesson at Moscow’s school – Stepan, a plastic robot, is in the classroom to help a little boy with leukaemia to follow the lesson through his eyes.

In the meantime, the real Stepan, a 12-year-old boy with big blue eyes and brown hair, sits in front of a computer at his home and takes an active part in the lesson with help of his plastic friend.

Stepan Supin has been suffering from leukaemia for two years and his immune system is too fragile to allow him to leave home.

Equipped with a webcam, a microphone and a loudspeaker, the robot broadcasts in real time what happens in the classroom to the computer at the boy’s home.

A screen in front of the robot actually allows the human Stepan to intervene at any time to ask for the teacher’s clarification or to answer a question, teacher Alla Gevak said.