Robot + iPad = student: Because there are currently no graduation ceremonies for university students due to the Corona virus in Japan, a university has used a particularly creative solution. She lets students attend the ceremony in the best Sheldon Cooper manner from home.
Afraid of Corona? Sheldon's mobile device for virtual presence provides a remedy
Ceremonies play an important role in traditional Japan. The graduation ceremonies for the graduation of the students are no exception, but due to the Covid 19 pandemic these cannot currently take place in the usual way. The Business Breakthrough University in Tokyo therefore gives students the opportunity to take part in an alternative ceremony, as reported by Reuters.
How does the alternative closing ceremony work? The students don't appear in person at the ceremony, but instead control a robot called Newme from ANA Holdings. These robots have a tablet as a head on which the face of the respective student can be seen.
The students drive their respective robots one after the other to a podium, where they receive their final diploma. Kenichi Ohmae, the president of the university, places the diploma on a holder on the robot while the university employees clap and congratulate.
The ceremony, including the robots social distancing practice, looks like this:
What does it all have to do with Sheldon Cooper and The Big Bang Theory? Apart from the fact that the university and the US series can be abbreviated with the same initials (BBT): The idea of protecting yourself with a remote-controlled robot including a monitor as a head also came from the highly intelligent nerd Sheldon Cooper.
In the episode "The safest place in the world" (season 4), Sheldon develops a so-called "mobile device for virtual presence" that is supposed to protect him from potentially fatal accidents and illnesses. This device has a striking resemblance to the robots of the Japanese university – but see for yourself:
It seems that Sheldon's idea isn't as stupid as we thought when watching the BBT episode …
