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In recent years automation and computerization
of machines have made it possible to improve their efficiency and the
conditions under which they are used. However, the downside is that this
has made them more complex to manipulate, and the more complicated training
in using them weighs heavily on budgets. Operating such machines from
a distance and sharing use of them would seem to constitute an advantageous
solution for reducing costs. And this is precisely the creed of the young
startup Educaffix!
Initially, the technology used by Educaffix was
developed by the Leibniz Laboratory of the CNRS for distance schooling
applications (e-learning). This is a story of technology going from the
world of research to the commercial world by adapting to needs.
It all began with an e-learning project called “Baghera.” Developed
at the “laboratoire Leibniz” of the “Institut d’Informatique
et Mathématiques Appliquées de Grenoble” (Institute
of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics of Grenoble, IMAG-CNRS- Université
Grenoble 1-INP Grenoble), Baghera was set up with a view to developing
an e-learning environment at the service of hospitalized children and
teenagers. Then other types of distance training demand appeared for university
teaching, and training in general. The software environment was then transformed
to adapt in particular to experimental sciences, and more particularly
to the numerous manipulations that are required for teaching them. The
researchers thus set to work to enable practical work to be done at a
distance, and to enable students to manipulate tools located in universities
other than their own. It was from this idea, i.e. working on machines
from a distance for the purposes of learning and of satisfying the demand
from the industrial training market, that the startup Educaffix was born.
So, what are the technologies that were developed for Baghera, and made
use of by Educaffix? Firstly, multi-agent architecture, which consists
in putting specialized cognitive agents into a software environment (for
example, there is one agent for chemistry, one agent for mathematics,
etc.) which communicate with one another autonomously. “Multi-agent
architecture facilitates construction and updating, while also offering
considerable flexibility in customizing the solutions offered to customers,”
explains Sylvie Pesty, from the Leibniz Laboratory, who worked on the
Baghera project. Then, there are teaching models that make it possible
to optimize organization of knowledge so that it is taken in. “You
can have the most knowledgeable person in the world on a given subject,
but there is no guarantee that they will be able to teach the subject
to pupils; good knowledge does not guarantee good teaching,”
emphasizes Nicolas Balacheff, a researcher at the laboratory.
In order to go to an industrialization phase from this research work,
the Baghera technology was transferred to Educaffix, a company chaired
by Lucien Lumbroso.
Educaffix is launching itself onto the distance training market for teaching
how to use robots or numerically-controlled machines. Distance learning
offers several advantages: firstly, the cost is reduced considerably compared
with conventional on-site training; it also makes it possible to train
staff in using a new machine before it arrives in the firm, and without
any danger of damaging very costly robots through a manipulating error.
Finally, it offers the possibility of pooling the equipment, and thus
of enabling schools and universities, for example, to share machines and
demonstrations that they could not have acquired on their own. This proves
that, from the laboratory to marketing, the technologies developed can
adapt to meet expectations.
Founded in January 2003, Educaffix aims to develop remote manipulation
and remote experimentation technologies for robotics, automatic control,
and experimental sciences and techniques, intended for training systems
for industrial and university applications.
At CNRS, research that is related to distance training and more particularly
to the contribution from information and communication sciences and technologies
to educational, training and more generally human learning systems, is
the subject of a cross-disciplinary theme network or “RTP” entitled
“learning, training, and education.”
For further information:
http://www-rtp39.imag.fr/
http://www-baghera.imag.fr
Researcher contacts:
Nicolas Balacheff, Research Director at CNRS
Tel.: +33 4 76 57 50 67
email: nicolas.balacheff@imag.fr
Sylvie Pesty, teaching researcher, Université Pierre Mendes-France,
Grenoble
Tel.: +33 4 76 57 47 85
email: sylvie.pesty@imag.fr
Educaffix contact:
Lucien Lumbroso
Tel.: +33 4 76 70 94 83
Fax: +33 4 76 48 93 38
email: affix@gr-a-in.com
CNRS press contact:
Laetitia Louis
Tel.: +33 1 44 96 49 88
email: Laetitia.louis@cnrs-dir.fr
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