What the Edtech?! Episode nine: the rise of the robots – future tech in education

In this penultimate episode Martin Hamilton, resident futurist here at Jisc, and historian Sir Anthony Seldon explore the amazing, and often misunderstood, world of artificial intelligence (AI) and discuss how future technologies can enhance the teaching process. 

We also hear from professor Bob Stone, director of the human interface technologies team at the University of Birmingham. He chats through some of his current projects, from mixed reality (combining the best of the real with the best of the virtual) in order to teach RAF trainee medics, to virtual reality (VR) being used for cognitive and physical rehabilitation.

Show notes

Anthony mentioned his book “The Fourth Education Revolution” and also spoke about Karl Benz – inventor of the internal combustion engine, and Martin discussed Nick Bostrom’s paperclip maximiser parable.

The VR headsets that Bob mentioned were HTC VIVE Focus, Lenovo Mirage and Oculus Go, and he mentioned that Qualcomm are pushing the boundaries of what VR can be used for. He also discussed the Virtual Mayflower project which they’re aiming to launch in 2020.