Glimpse at graduations of the future as robots have pics of students stuck on their faces at socially distanced ceremony
ROBOTS stood in for students at a bizarre graduation ceremony held during the coronavirus lockdowns in the Philippines.
They took the places of 179 high school pupils at the event which was broadcast on Facebook to prevent any further spread of the deadly infection.
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The socially-distanced showpiece was held at the Senator Renato 'Compañero' Cayetano Memorial Science and Technology High School in Taguig City.
The four robe-wearing automatons were made by the school’s robotics team out of recycled materials, reports CNN.
Photos of the graduates were projected onto tablets on the heads of the remote-controlled robots as their names were called to collect their diplomas.
City education officials wore face masks and observed social distancing while overseeing the event.
Similar robo-ceremonies will now be conducted for another 17,000 graduates from 36 state schools in the city.
“We know how deeply symbolic a graduation ceremony is for graduates and their parents,” said Mayor Lino Cayetano.
“This is why we came up with a program that can help them celebrate their accomplishment while respecting health standards and policies during the COVID-19 community quarantines.”
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Taguig City is one of the cities in metropolitan Manila - the capital of the Philippines - and was placed under quarantine in mid-May.
Coronavirus cases there reached 378 (with 15 dead) as of May 21, data from the Health Department reveals.