Conversation #7 : Nao: a schoolfriend for children with disabilities

The Association Notre-Dame de Neuilly-sur-Seine school uses two Nao humanoid robots to help children with multiple motor disabilities acquire knowledge and understand emotions. Younger children can talk to the robots while older ones can programme them, and they are the stars of the school’s end-of-year show. The project is being led by a CNP Assurances employee and funded by the CNP Assurances Corporate Foundation, which has been addressing major public healthcare issues for almost 25 years and is now focusing on reducing social inequality in healthcare.

Conversation between Delphine Moreau, Cédric Fiederer and Sylvie Chaumont-Vallon

Delphine Moreau,
Schoolteacher, Paris

Four years ago, Delphine took some children with motor disabilities to a robot exhibition. A Nao robot was there, and the children were fascinated by it. Delphine did some research, finding out about the robots and securing funds, and persuaded the school to acquire them. She explains the advantages of Nao and is already thinking about future innovations.

Cédric Fiederer,
Father of Gabriel, a pupil at the school, Paris

He speaks about the exceptional support provided to children at the school, the commitment of the teachers, the difference that the robots make and the useful role that IT will play in helping children with multiple disabilities in future. 

Sylvie Chaumont-Vallon,
Head of the CNP Assurances Corporate Foundation, Paris

She has followed the experiment every step of the way – witnessing both its bugs and the tremendous joy it has brought. Ahead of the final appraisal, she gauges the project’s success by the joy it gives to the children, and is planning how to take it further so that many other children can benefit.

The CNP Assurances Corporate Foundation: Going to school with Nao

Nao was initially designed as an IT and robotics research tool by a French start-up. Now, almost by accident, it is proving to be an invaluable aid to autistic children. Learning applications have been developed and Nao has been introduced into specialist educational institutions. Around 200 Nao robots are now in use, mainly in the USA and UK. In France, the first Nao robots came into service in Neuilly as part of an ongoing experiment. Nao is a humanoid, autonomous and interactive robot; it is the ideal assistant and, crucially, it is programmable. Aside from its educational content, children can determine how the robot behaves, get it to dance or write a story that the robot then recites. The school’s children took to the robots immediately. They were named David and Nana, and they became the children’s mascots. Children are much more motivated to learn and find it easier to answer questions asked by a robot than by a teacher. Teachers are also positive about the experiment, although things were tricky at first and bugs frequently arose. Programming the robots and seeing the results give students a real sense of pride, which is invaluable when educating children with learning disabilities.

Delphine Moreau,
Schoolteacher

Four years ago, I took some children to a robot exhibition. Nao was being demonstrated and I was struck by how interested the children were in robotics. I read a report about how Nao was being used with severely autistic children, as well as research carried out in the UK and USA, and my mind was made up. With the help of a CNP Assurances staff member, we secured two robots and arranged for two teachers to receive training from the robots’ manufacturer. The children were fascinated by the robots and immediately took to them.
Nao comes with apps that allow you to do simple but limited exercises. Fortunately, Nao can be programmed using icons. This means that we can work with our older children to create custom content together. In future, we would like simpler robots that can interact with younger children and bring them out of their shell.
Corporate sponsorship is a great opportunity to take innovative ideas forward.

Cédric Fiederer,
Father of 9-year-old Gabriel

Gabriel has been going to this school for five years now, and he’s blossoming. The school is amazing: staff are committed, the level of care is exceptional, and there are 200 staff members (speech therapists, carers, physiotherapists, teachers etc.) for 100 children. And it’s free, because the school is run by a charity under a contract with the government.
Nao takes children on a journey of development in a way that is fun and very useful for the future. Digital technology has opened up career prospects for Gabriel and made him more independent.
The interface is not child’s play, because it uses Google programming tools. But going from being a consumer to a creator is a wonderful thing for a child. The robot is their avatar and if something doesn’t work, they can fix it or start again. There’s no failure with Nao, and robots don’t judge. You can’t imagine how proud the children are when they present their parents with a dance show that they programmed themselves for the end-of-year show!

Nao hailed by teachers

At France’s 2016 innovative teachers’ conference, the panel of judges awarded the inclusive education prize to the Nao school project. Inclusive education means the right of all children to have a high-quality education that meets their essential learning needs and enriches their lives. The award is especially appropriate for this humanoid robot, which has been adopted by children with motor disabilities, and it means that the work done by teachers at the Association Notre-Dame school has been recognised by their peers.

Sylvie Chaumont-Vallon,
Head of the CNP Assurances Corporate Foundation

The CNP Assurances Corporate Foundation supports healthcare, disability and education projects led by employees, who play an active role in them.
The Nao project met all our criteria, and so the Foundation funded two robots, training for the teachers and maintenance costs.
What a wonderful experiment! The robots help children to learn about both maths and emotions, both words and movements. They are always available and always patient. The robots act on behalf of the children, they represent them. The older children programme the robots and the younger ones dance with them. Teachers are working with a young engineer to develop more functions, and the project is being appraised by the school and the government’s education department. For us, the project has already been a success because the children are happy, and the teachers, too. If the outcome is positive, the CNP Assurances Corporate Foundation will pursue the initiative by applying it elsewhere, or carry out experiments with the charity and other manufacturers regarding a simpler robot for younger children.

Reducing social inequality in healthcare

This is the core purpose of the CNP Assurances Corporate Foundation. The Foundation supports projects that focus on healthcare and improve the quality of life of our most vulnerable citizens.
As part of the Alliance pour l’Education, the CNP Assurances Corporate Foundation is working to stop children dropping out of education. It gives children attending priority education schools in the Paris region the chance to attend illness prevention courses, day trips to the forest to learn more about nature and the world around them, and sessions to help them prepare for a national diploma, including stress management workshops and revision coaching.

With Unis-Cités, a longstanding civic service organisation in France, the CNP Assurances Corporate Foundation encourages young volunteers to raise their peers’ awareness of health problems, risk factors at parties and addictive behaviour. In 2017, the CNP Assurances Corporate Foundation donated another €125,000 and invested in setting up a health-focused e-learning module for Unis-Cités’ 3,500 civic service volunteers.

CNP Assurances Corporate Foundation is working with food retail chain AGORAé to help low-income students maintain a healthy, balanced diet, by funding subsidised grocery stores. In 2017, it will donate €50,000 to six new stores in Clermont-Ferrand, Besançon, Créteil, Versailles, Nantes and Toulouse.

Saving lives Since 2009, the Foundation has financed the installation of 3,200 defibrillators, as well as providing potentially life-saving training in more than 2,100 communities.  In 2016, it helped Corsica’s national park to install 16 defibrillators in huts along the GR 20, one of Europe’s most famous hiking trails. Initiatives in 2017 include installing an initial 15 defibrillators in parks and gardens in Paris, and providing first-aid training to 4,400 primary school children.

A health-focused Ideas Box

The people who are the hardest to reach are often those who need prevention messages the most. The CNP Assurances Corporate Foundation has decided to reach out to them in priority neighbourhoods and rural areas, working with Bibliothèques Sans Frontière (BSF, Libraries Without Borders) and its Ideas Box. This portable media centre, which is transported on two pallets and can be set up in less than 20 minutes, provides 100 m² of educational, connected and creative space dedicated to promoting health. There are no taboos, and topics include nutrition, drugs, sex, unhappiness, access to rights and care. The project was developed by the CNP Assurances Corporate Foundation’s healthcare experts, and the Foundation will provide annual funding of €230,000.

Almost 25 years’ action addressing public healthcare issues