Robots are set to help with learning in Cumbria schools.

Cumbria County Council is using state-of-the-art technology to enable children who are unable to attend school through long-term illness to maintain a connection to their education and their peers.

Created by No Isolation – a company specialising in the design of ‘warm technology’ to address the increasingly urgent social problem of loneliness – AV1 is a robot avatar that acts as a child’s eyes, ears and voice in the classroom when long-term illness, disability or mental-health conditions prevent them from being there in person.

No Isolation said: "With around 72,000 children in the UK estimated to be out of school due to long-term illness in a typical year, children at schools in Cumbria who might otherwise have had their future prospects and wellbeing damaged by medically necessitated exclusion have a much better chance to thrive."