Telepresence Robot Puts Remote Students In the Classroom

“Setting it up is nothing. You just plug it in and turn it on,” Beasley says.

The district’s Kubi is mounted on a library cart that can be pushed between classrooms. Beasley’s goal is to have a few of these Kubi systems at each of the district’s four campuses. Llano ISD also has what it calls an Enhanced Learning Center that includes a technology lab with equipment like 3D printers and laser cutters.

Here’s a look at Llano ISD’s Kubi robot mounted on a library cart.

“We’re a small town in Texas. We’re not going to find somebody that’s an expert on a 3D printer or a laser cutter here so I’d like to be able to bring in outside experts to teach a class,” Beasley says.

The Kubi is an easy way to do that and because it’s on wheels students can easily bring the telepresence robot around to various technology stations as they work. Beasley is now looking into this guest speaker application as well as investing in hotspots so absent students that do not have Internet at home can still take full advantage of Kubi, rather than miss classes.

“What we do is really not very sexy,” Beasley says. “I had a very specific problem I was trying to solve and this provided me the solution I wanted. It may not sound good on paper, but it was convenient for me.”