Kipi the Peruvian robot that travels the Andes to teach in times of pandemic that excites the world! 

Kipi the Peruvian robot that travels the Andes to teach in times of pandemic that excites the world!

Imaginative idea of a teacher motivated to bring education closer to difficult areas.

“I am a special robot. I was created and programmed to sing, dance and learn with students with special needs ”, says Kipi to introduce herself to the students of teacher Walter Velásquez when he arrives in the rural communities of Colcabamba, in Huancavelica, a region of central Peru at 3,000 meters of altitude.

His eyes are two flashlights, his body a plastic container and his head an old radio. This is Kipi, an environmentalist robot made with recycled scrap that travels on horseback through the Peruvian Andes with its creator, a young teacher whom he helps to bring education where the internet, radio or television does not reach.

“I am a special robot. I was created and programmed to sing, dance and learn with students with special needs ”, says Kipi to introduce herself to the students of teacher Walter Velásquez when he arrives in the rural communities of Colcabamba, in Huancavelica, a region of central Peru at 3,000 meters of altitude. .


Kipi is controlled by Velásquez from his mobile phone through an application that he has programmed with free software to teach him words, and he is increasingly autonomous and bilingual. She already has simple conversations in Spanish and Quechua, the mother tongue of her students.

“For me, it was very pretty. Kipi is an Andean girl who carries positive and educational messages in the face of this pandemic. Travel and share joy and hope. It is also very ecological, because it has a solar panel and recharges itself during the trip ”, Velasquez told Efe very proudly.


That solar panel in the form of a backpack, so necessary to keep the robot alive in those peasant communities where there is no electricity, is the origin of its name, since in Quechua Kipi means "to load", as Andean peasants load their crops on their backs.

"In the‘ qipi ’many things are loaded. Kipi carries her energy, joy and hope. I didn`t put a mouth on her because she has a speaker on her chest, since she speaks to us from her robotic heart, ”Velasquez explained.

-Conceived in quarantine-

This android was conceived in the creativity laboratory of the humble Santiago Antúnez de Mayolo school, in Colcabamba, where Velásquez, a technology and electronics enthusiast, created between four adobe walls and a perforated ceiling a space to awaken creative thought and investigation of his students.

With the COVID-19 quarantine, classes were suspended, classrooms emptied and practically half of the 60 students in charge of Velásquez returned to their peasant communities, which are several hours from the town on dirt roads.

Their families also did not return to collect the educational materials that the Ministry of Education (Minedu) distributed during the confinement, nor did they return the food from Qali Warma, the government`s social program that gives breakfast to some three million students.

“With so much poverty in those communities, where sometimes they don`t have enough to eat, and they didn`t come to pick up the books and food. So, either you sit idly by and the food spoils, or you do something and take them to eat, ”Velásquez said.

"If they did not come to school, it was time for the school to go to the communities," added the teacher, and neither short nor lazy traveled those roads on trips of up to 12 hours on the back of horses and even donkeys.

-An evolved radio-

It occurred to him to repair old radios and distribute them so that they could listen to the contents of "I learn at home", the government`s distance education program, until he met a girl with special needs, and then he thought of "something more striking and attractive that excites and invites the student to learn ".

“I saw a‘ gallonera ’, a piece of radio and our very special Kipi robot came out. This is how it was born to carry messages of learning, ecology and equality ”, Velásquez said.

At each visit, Kipi immediately awakens the attention of the local children. Curiosity turns to enormous amazement upon hearing her speak in her metallic voice. Thus it presents them with educational challenges.

Thanks to several USB sticks, he recites stories, poems and songs. "You can put any content on it and Kipi expresses it, because it is a robot, and that is its function and ours is to process that information," said Velásquez.

“Sometimes it is late and we are on a hill with the moon shining on us. Kipi lights her eyes, which are green because she has an ecological look, moves and plays music, because it also works like a radio. Then it`s time to dance and do physical education ”, said the teacher.

“When Kipi leaves, many of them write letters to him. That really moves me. It is so nice because perhaps these children in the future will have that motivation to remember that they learned from a robot and propose to make ten robots themselves ”, he added.

-Poverty and violence-

In a few weeks, Kipi has traveled a good part of the landscapes of Colcabamba, in Tayacaja, a province that serves as a drug route for the Valley of the Apurímac, Ene and Mantaro Rivers (Vraem), where much of the cocaine it exports is produced Peru and is the stronghold of the remnant of the Shining Path terrorist group.

“It is an area very affected by narco-terrorism, poverty and risky behaviors. I had students with many problems. There are extreme cases and stories from my students that move me too much. Some have seen their parents die ‘shot’ or are missing, ”Velasquez explained.

"They have all this saved as a memory in their hearts," said the teacher, who deals with initiatives such as Kipi that their students process these emotions and concerns, breaking the paradigm of traditional education and "taking the chip that failure is bad, because failing is just one more way to learn ”.

Thus it also seeks to convey that "life is not made of evaluations, because those are numbers and certifications, and they do not define you at all." His classes next to the robot are usually outdoors, with the boys sitting in a circle.

"Why do all classrooms have to be square and have a blackboard in front of them? I think that learning does not go there. I have always been in favor of awakening curiosity and looking for the most special side of children and adolescents. We are not going to copy a book or develop a mechanical exercise. Let`s think ”, he concluded.

Publication Date: 2020-08-20

Source: EFE, Gestion.pe

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