Overview

This challenge was carried out as a joint project between the DTLab and the Co-Innovation-Lab of the Munich University of Applied Sciences.The City of Munich and its city council both agree: Schools must become more digital. For two years the City of Munich has owned two Pepper robots. After extensive programming of the Pepper functions, they are now searching for a suitable use for the two robots. The head of the Innovations Lab, Lutz-Steffen Schmidt, suggests using Pepper in schools, hospitals, libraries, universities and kindergartens. The use should not be for entertainment only, but for learning purposes and to support municipal institutions.

Problem

The target group "Children and teenagers" often seems to be highly unmotivated to learn and pay attention in school because of old-fashioned and monotonous teaching methods.

The questions that we created to find a targeted solution to the problem were the following:

• "How might we motivate students to follow the lessons with interest?"
• "How do we get students to participate actively during class?"
• "How can we raise awareness and interest for digital topics and methods?"

Approach

With the support of Amazon Web Services (AWS), the "Big idea" was developed during a workshop. At first the team had to create a project canvas to define the projects framework. To find out what was important for students and how they could benefit from working with the two Pepper robots, the students used the innovation method "Working Backwards". To visualize their idea and the goal, they created a storyboard and presented it to their client. Based on the results of the preliminary work, a prototype was developed in consultation with the Innovation Lab of the City of Munich.

Prototype

The prototype was shown in form of a Power Point presentation. During a short introduction, Pepper presented himself and explained where he comes from and who he belongs to. Afterwards there was a conversation between two robots and the pupils were explained the topic "digitalization" in general. In order to cover the technical aspects behind the production of a robot, the topic "robotics" was explained too and Pepper told the pupils more about his own functions. Furthermore the pupils gained an insight into the professions that led to the creation of Pepper. To make the lecture more relaxed, he did Thai Chi exercises with the students and completed the lecture with a game. The game was a vocabulary training in which the pupils competed against each other in teams. A text script was the base for Pepper's programming.

Next Steps

After successful programming (expected by the end of April 2020), a first trial run in a secondary school will take place. In the course of a day, several classes will be run through and Pepper will present his program within two school hours.

About the Co-Innovation Lab

The Co-Innovation Lab is a comprehensive concept for innovation projects between students and companies. Temporary innovation partnerships - in the form of projects - are created between companies, students and lecturers. Initiated by Prof. Holger Günzel and Prof. Lars Brehm (both Munich University of Applied Sciences), more than 25 innovation projects are currently carried out each year, often on an interdisciplinary basis. The Co-Innovation Lab is structured as an open community. Interested lecturers can use the concept of the Co-Innovation Lab in their courses and are welcome to actively participate in its further development.