“The IDFs were upgraded and tested over the one-gig connections before we connected the new ten-gig core. We cutover the core in the MDF by labeling and documenting all fiber and copper connections. We were going from a one Gb to ten Gb core with redundancy, so we tested each IDF’s connection back to the MDF until all connections were complete. We did each IDF one at a time to make sure everything was working.”
Even though the installation is lengthy and intricate, Nilsson says the only challenges his team faced were with network fibers.
“When testing the fiber between IDFs and MDF, we found several campus runs that would not connect at ten gigabit, so we had to use different pairs or re-terminate the fiber,” he says. “We also found fiber jumpers that were damaged and needed to be replaced.”
As the network and infrastructure are tweaked and updated through next year, ORU’s IT department and students are still utilizing the robots.
Mathews says his team has trained IT on how to use the robotics technology; all they have to do is download the Double Robotics app, and Mathews’ team directs them to which of the school’s nine robots they can connect to.
Students also have a similar process when connecting with robots, no matter where in the world they are located.
“Students will use what [device] they own,” Mathews says. Whether the robot is “on a tabletop, or the one on the segue-style foundation, they’re in control. If you’re in Asia or Russia, you’re driving the robot, not a faculty member, not the university. It’s amazing when students feel they have that power and control in their hands, how much more they engage.”
Since implementing the robots and other geo-vision technology at ORU, students have had opportunities to attend class even when they were forced to take a leave of absence.
Mathews says one student’s parents were initially upset when their child had to miss a hefty chuck of the school year, until they learned about the option to attend classes remotely via the robots.
The same opportunities were also utilized by older, non-traditional students.
“We have elderly students who live local to us who just had surgery, and they attend via the robot as well,” Mathews says.
In the future, Mathews anticipates the robots will become more interactive with on-campus life, and will pave the way for a new form of “physicality” for attending events, classes and even graduation.
“We had the first graduate walk the stage last year,” Mathews says. “It’s a whole new paradigm. It’s one thing if you want to see [them] going across campus, but a whole other thing to see robots going across the campus and participate in events.”
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