Robot hands out diplomas at high school graduation

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    HONOLULU, HI (KITV) — The Class of 2020 will forever be known as the year of students that graduated in the midst of pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic and stay at home orders threw a wrench in the plans around the country for the traditional large-scale celebration.

So, to improvise, around the country, we’ve seen everything from virtual graduations, to drive thru graduations to pick up diplomas.

But Assets High School in Honolulu decides to come as close as they could to the real thing.

Since they only had a graduating class of 30 students, it was easier for staff to host an in-person graduation with social distancing in place.

One student walked up at a time, there were pop-up lei stations, and speeches were given from a distance.

But for the actual handing out of the diplomas, principal Dr. Suzy Travis says, is where they really got creative.

She says the school’s robotics team created a robot to hand out the diplomas. The diplomas are loaded into a basket-looking slot, which is then raised up with a remote control.

The entire robot then moves forward to meet the student and hand them their diploma.

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