How It Works

NoRILLA bridges the advantages of physical and virtual worlds to improve children's STEM and inquiry learning in a more enjoyable and collaborative way. Our patented technology and learning method, provides personalized interactive feedback to children as they experiment and make discoveries in their everyday environment. They get to make predictions, observe and explain the results just like a little scientist, all with interactive guidance and intelligent feedback based on proven learning mechanisms delivered through a friendly gorilla character.

Our specialized AI algorithm tracks what the kids are doing as children experiment in the physical 3D world, asks them questions interactively and helps them understand the underlying reasons as they observe physical phenomena, fostering curiosity and critical thinking skills. It fosters collaboration and productive dialogue, encouraging them to discuss,  collaborate and learn together with friends and family.  We have an extensive STEAM curriculum and lesson plans spanning a wide variety of topics aligned with Next Generation Science Standards and Common Core.

 
 

Our research at Carnegie Mellon University with hundreds of children in school and museums has shown that our mixed-reality system improves children's learning by 5 times compared to equivalent tablet or computer based learning, while also increasing enjoyment. Furthermore, our research has proven that having the intelligent layer on top of physical experimentation based on proven and effective learning mechanisms in our system has a critical role in learning, rather than having kids explore with physical materials on their own.

 

"The more the video and screen generation comes through, the shorter their attention span is. I feel like I'm competing with the Xbox, the Wii. I have to be super engaging for them to pay attention to me. There is so much technology out there for kids, that's great but there is so few ways to get them on the same thing at the same time.

I love that NoRILLA uses technology in such an engaging, communicative and non-isolating way. I'm not a scientist, I'm not a scientist by any stretch of imagination and I love science and I love to teach science, but I feel like I'm limited by own limitations in the science world. To have something like this that supports and backs up and lets the kids and myself all learn together is genius!"

- Teacher, Boston

“What's the impact of technology on kids' learning, enjoyment and active engagement - good, bad or ugly? It's easy to take sides - tech makes kids passive consumers and kills all learning, or the future of education is online.

Yesterday I had a fascinating glimpse into a possibility that was better than either - AI-infused learning, with a huge hands-on component. Kids from very young to high school age experienced a #mixedreality learning environment - shaking up blocks or stacking them to understand which ones stood strong and which ones toppled over, for example.

I was most excited by the many implications for our kids' future learning:

  • The research included several children from low-income neighborhoods, with learning gains as impressive as those from more privileged backgrounds - can we finally give poorer kids a chance at #STEM without huge investments?

  • There's research that shows that girls are subtly discriminated against by teachers teaching STEM subjects. This gets erased instantly when an AI is "teaching"

  • A whole new learning environment can be created …. where kids of multiple ages can learn science in fun and engaging ways …”

- Shubha Chakravarthy
Founder, Achiiv, Financial platform for women entrepreneurs

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