St Paul’s Girls’ School – Pepper the Robot

Interactive robot helps girls with coding and artificial intelligence

St Paul’s Girls’ School welcomed a unusual new member to their community in 2020 – a social humanoid robot called Pepper.

Pepper is able to recognise faces and basic human emotions and take part in conversations. He’ll give students opportunities to explore coding, robotics and artificial intelligence.

“Technology underpins the modern life,” says Soma, Kusuma Trust’s Executive Trustee. “It is serving and influencing every aspect of our existence and it’s a good idea to be comfortable with it early on. A humanoid robot is not only state-of-the art technology, it’s making learning fun and interactive.”

Our grant has helped pay for a humanoid robot called Pepper, which will help students explore coding, robotics and artificial intelligence.
An estimated 350 students, aged 11 to 18, will benefit from the new technology.
We’ve also funded laptops and IT equipment for pupils who need it to access online learning during lockdown.

Investing in emerging technology

St Paul’s Girls’ School wants pupils to think creatively about using technology, and also to foster skills and ways of thinking that will be valuable in the workplace.

Pepper will help challenge and stretch the school’s most able students. There will be lunchtime and after-school robotics clubs for students of all ages. There’ll also be the opportunity to enter competitions at national and international level, like the World Robot Summit.

Enabling remote learning

Our grant will also ensure pupils at local partner schools can learn at home during lockdown. It’s being used to buy laptops, which will be lent to pupils who need one. The schools can also use the grant to buy dongles and routers for pupils who don’t have internet access at home.

“STEM subjects are still often associated with boys, despite many women having made significant contributions to various disciplines of science. It is vitally important to encourage and give opportunities to girls. The chance to travel and compete will give the girls confidence, as well as substantial soft skills like teamwork and resilience. Being able to harness technology in their field of interest will help the girls progress in any profession they choose.”

Dr Soma Pujari, Kusuma Trust’s Executive Trustee