Students at the Willms High School in Germany's Delmenhorst received an unusual visitor – an AI-operated humanoid robot named Captcha, who led the students through a day of lectures and debate.
The robotic teacher, developed by Hidoba Research, and the students discussed AI and its influence on different aspects of society.
The students, in their late teens, appeared to enjoy the new experience with their metallic teacher.
"There was a bit of a lack of personal contact, but the arguments were all very solid," student Kenen Soenmez said.
His classmate Seniz Tiryaki was particularly excited about the media attention the school received for the event. Several media outlets, among them Germany's most popular evening news show Tagesschau have visited the school and interviewed both the students and the robot.
'Pay attention, boy' - would you want an AI teacher? /Reuters
The event took place thanks to the initiative of the students themselves. At the AI for Good global summit organized by the United Nations, the students got to know Captcha and his developers, and suggested the experiment at their school.
The Willms-High School, located in the Northern city of Delmenhorst, gives particular importance to technical subjects and even developed a campaign for the promotion of AI under the hashtag #I_make_AI.
According to the school's communication team, the AI teacher was one of the first real-life experiments of a robot-led lesson in Europe.
Hidoba Research is a robotic company located in Hong Kong, focusing on the development of humanoid robots for social interaction and education.