Ill at Home, Child Sends Her Robot to Class in a Tutu
病童不能上學 機器人代打
By Robbie Brown

SUMTER, South Carolina – Lexie Kinder solves problems during math class, earns gold stars from her teacher and jokes with classmates at Alice Drive Elementary School.
蕾西‧坎德在數學課上解答了問題、贏得老師頒發的金色星星，還與艾利斯大道小學的同學開玩笑。

All from her home computer.
這一切都是透過家裡的電腦完成的。

Born with a chronic heart disorder that weakened her immune system and made attending school risky, Lexie, 9, was tutored at her home in Sumter for years. But this spring, her family began experimenting with an alternative: a camera-and-Internet-enabled robot that swivels around the classroom and streams two-way video between her school and house.
先天的慢性心臟病減弱了免疫系統，讓九歲的蕾西上學變得很危險，在南卡羅來納州桑特市的家中學習已有數年。但今年春天，家人開始試驗替代方案：運用配備攝影機而且能上網的機器人，在教室裡轉來轉去，在學校和她家之間傳送雙向的視訊。

“She immediately loved the robot,” her mother, Cristi Kinder, said. Called a VGo, it is controlled by Lexie from her home computer. Lexie dressed up the robot, which is about the height of her third-grade classmates, in pink ribbons and a tutu, and she renamed it Princess VGo.
蕾西的媽媽克莉絲蒂‧坎德說：「她立刻愛上了這台機器人」。名為VGo的機器人由蕾西以家中的電腦控制，機器人和她三年級的同學差不多高，蕾西特別幫機器人打扮，別上粉紅色緞帶和芭蕾舞短裙，重新取名為VGo公主。

A small but quickly growing number of chronically ill students – at least 50 across the United States – now attend school virtually with what are called “remote presence robots.” The technology is still expensive (a VGo costs $6,000, in addition to $1,200 a year for maintenance and other costs) and imperfect (when the robot loses its Internet connection, it goes lifeless and must be pushed).
藉由所謂「遠端機器人」虛擬上學的慢性病學生為數不多但增加快速，全美至少有50人。這項科技仍舊很貴，一台VGo要價6千美元，保養與其他雜費一年還要1,200美元。而且有缺陷：當機器人網路連線中斷後，會變得死氣沉沉，必須用推的才會動。

And despite the fantasies of Lexie’s classmates – “I want a robot so I can stay in bed all day,” one 8-year-old said – such robots are mostly last resorts for children restricted to their houses or hospital rooms.
儘管蕾西的同學對機器人有許多幻想，像是一名八歲的學童說：「我想要一台機器人，這樣我就可以整天都不下床；」絕大多數時候，這類的機器人是不便出門或是得住院的孩童的最後一招。

As Web-based video becomes more prominent as a teaching tool, special education advocates say these robots are valuable alternatives to tutoring for students who might not otherwise interact with classmates.
網路視訊已經成為更重要的教學工具，特殊教育的支持者認為，對於可能無法和同學互動的學生來說，這類的機器人是家庭教師的重要替代品。

“Soon, these robots should be the price of an inexpensive laptop,” said Maja Mataric, a computer science professor at the University of Southern California. “They should make access to education much easier for students who are convalescing.”
南加州大學電腦系教授馬雅‧馬塔力克說：「不久後，這類機器人的價格應該會和廉價的筆記型電腦一樣，應該能讓康復中的慢性病患者受教育變得容易得多。」

Children adapt far more quickly to the technology than adults and treat the machine like another classmate, she says. In a fire drill at a Texas school, students were so worried about the VGo that they insisted on escorting it out of the building.
她說，孩童適應科技的速度遠快過成人，而且會把機器人當成同學對待。在德州一所學校的火災演習中，學生非常擔心VGo的安危，堅持要將它帶出教室大樓。

The VGo is 1.2 meters tall, weighs eight kilograms and is shaped like a white chess pawn, with a video screen on its face. Lexie controls its movement with her computer mouse. Video of the classroom appears on her computer screen, and video of her face appears on the robot’s display screen. The robot and Lexie’s computer support two-way voice communication, and Lexie can flash her VGo’s lights to get the teacher’s attention.
VGo高1.2公尺，重8公斤，外型像是西洋棋裡面的白棋的士兵，臉上有視訊螢幕。蕾西用電腦滑鼠控制VGo的行動。教室內的影像出現在她的電腦螢幕上，她的臉出現在機器人的顯示螢幕上。機器人和蕾西的電腦支援雙向的聲音傳達，蕾西可以藉由VGo的閃光引起老師的注意。

Since 2007, VGo, based in Nashua, New Hampshire, has been selling the robots to company executives who want to keep an eye on employees while traveling, and to doctors who use it to “visit” patients at different hospitals. Two years ago, the company realized schools might be a new market.
自2007年起，位在新罕布夏州納舒厄的VGo公司就開始賣機器人給旅行在外想監看員工的公司主管，也賣給可以透過機器人「訪視」不同醫院病患的醫師。兩年前，該公司察覺學校也許是個新市場。

Most robots are bought with state or local money marked for disabled students. At some schools, parents have held fund-raising events or bought the robot themselves. In Huntsville, Texas, education officials bought five VGos last year and are planning for five more next year.
大多數機器人都是用州政府或當地政府編給身心障礙學生的經費購買。有些學校的家長舉辦募款活動或自費購買。在德州亨茨維爾市，教育官員去年買了五台VGo機器人，計畫明年再買五台。

For Connor Flanagan, 14, of Tyngsborough, Massachusetts, the main benefit is social interaction. He does not go to school because of a rare lung condition, but he has stayed in touch with friends while awaiting a transplant.
對於麻州廷斯波羅市的14歲少年康納‧富蘭納根來說，最大的好處是社交互動。他因為罕見的肺病而無法上學，但在等待器官移植的同時，他一直和朋友保持聯繫。

“He walks down the hallway kind of like everybody else,” said his mother, Jennifer Flanagan. “The kids – aside the fact that it was a robot – they treated him like Connor. He’d roll through the room, and you’d hear ‘Hey, Connor. Hi, Connor.’”
康納的母親珍妮佛‧富蘭納根說：「他有點像其他所有人那樣走在走廊上。撇開它是機器人的事實，孩童們當他是康納一樣對待。它在教室滑行，你會聽見有人在叫『嗨，康納。嗨，康納。」

Between classes, Lexie, too, guides her robot down the hallway. At day’s end, she rolls it to its charging station. One child, Hazel Grace Kolb, waved goodbye to the machine.
下課時間，蕾西也會指引機器人到走廊上。一天結束時，她將機器人轉進充電站。一名叫做海瑟‧葛蕾絲‧考伯的孩童，向機器人揮手道別。

“See you tomorrow, robot,” she said.
她說：「明天見，機器人。」

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/08/education/for-homebound-students-a-robot-proxy-in-the-classroom.html

Slideshow：Robots Lead the Way to the Classroom
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2013/06/03/education/20130603-ROBOT.html

紐時中文版翻譯：
http://cn.nytimes.com/education/20130625/c25robot/zh-hant/

2013-06-25聯合報/G5版/UNITEDDAILYNEWS張佑生譯 原文參見紐時週報十一版上