The first HEART - Help educators to teach through robotic tools project addresses the issue of using robotic tools in adult education. - Most of the activities related to the use of modern technologies, including robots, have so far focused on school education of children, with very few projects focusing on adults. Even fewer have addressed the topic of adults with disabilities. On the other hand, the robotics sector is focused on industrial applications or specific services, while the educational potential of these devices remains unknown in the adult education environment. Our initiative aims to fill this gap, as well as to bring the education and robotics sectors closer together - explains Professor Grzegorz Granosik from the Faculty of Electrical, Electronic, Computer and Control Engineering.
The HEART project includes four target groups: teachers and educators who are responsible for teaching and training adults. - For them, we will conduct a systematic review of currently available technologies and create a knowledge base that will help them use robotics in their work - explains Prof. Granosik, project coordinator.
The second group consists of specialists working with adult learners with disabilities, looking for innovative tools and supporting technologies. The third group consists of experts from partner organisations who will be trained as mentors and will be able to support the previously mentioned target groups in their direct work with adult learners. The fourth group consists of professionals in the higher education sector - teachers, lecturers, researchers and other specialists in the field of educational robotics, who will contribute to the development of academic know-how in this area. HEART project partners are: e-Nable Greece (Greece), Associacio Programes Educatius Open Europe (Spain), Lidi Smart Solutions (Netherlands), Fondazione Istituto dei Sordi di Torino ONLUS (Italy) European Development Foundation (Bulgaria).
A complementary project in the area of school education is Ready, Teady, Go! addressed to students aged 9-14 with special educational needs as well as teachers and educators. An important target group in these activities are non-governmental organisations, including, among others, public education centres and socio-therapeutic day centres for children and youth. The project will be implemented in an international company, in cooperation with foundations and organisations from
Italy, Cyprus, Spain, Greece, Lithuania and Poland. One of the many outcomes will be a platform providing learning materials and bringing together all the results of the project, with an additional interactive space for users. Another interesting outcome will be a mobile application with an avatar of the eponymous Teady bear supporting children's learning.
Lodz University of Technology is also implementing the Accessible Lodz University of Technology project, which aims to eliminate all barriers to access for people with disabilities to our university and its educational offer, while the Centre of Excellence in Universal Design, which is being created, will initiate, support and promote activities for design for all and the use of state-of-the-art technologies, including robotics, to support the processes of inclusion of people who are excluded or have difficult access to education - adds Prof. Granosik, who is also active in this project.