We cannot even imagine today’s school system without the modern technologies that arrived here thanks to four engineers who were able to create and apply everything that became a part of global education and inclusion.
People can feel skin deep and little saws, which, back in the day, we used in ‘technical education’, as the subject was called in primary and secondary schools back then, have a soul so that they are able to stop themselves before they cut the user’s hand. These are just some of the technological novelties in education, as we found out from Ljubomir Adamov, Director, Chief Engineer and Proprietor of Belgrade-based company AGE d.o.o.
How did you present your company at the recent British Council Fair dedicated to new technologies in education?
We exhibited a 3D printer for the first time ever. This is a top-notch machine that is used in combination with a computer to allow you to make a material object in Africa or America from Belgrade. You input the software here and the object is made over there. The end result can be a glass or a chair that was designed here and produced there.
The 3D technology can be applied to a special segment of education which, among other student categories, also includes visually impaired students. They can print on matrices that require an embossed preprint, which is done using 3D technology.
What other novelties have you presented and offered?
This year we decided to go back to the traditional approach to creating. We presented a small-scale workshop as one set – a small drill, saw and lathe, which can produce the models we used to create in technical education, back in the day. These models are suitable for all ages, as well as for professionals.
The system that we use comes from Austrian company CoolTool and has a five-year warranty. This is a perfect device that operates at a harmless voltage, so, for instance, if you put your finger on the saw, it promptly moves so you don’t cut yourself. We are both the distributors and coordinators of this system.
Our work is all about a subtle connection between traditional and modern technologies. We have software as a fine thread that connects us, and is also a slave to our purpose. We use software only to produce effects, record, notice and monitor, but our foundation is modern technology, modern materials and devices that belong to multidisciplinary technology. We design and realise system integration
It is very important that this system can also be used in so-called inclusive education, i.e. by children with special needs.
You are in the business of interactive multi-media educational technologies. Tell us something about your very beginning.
These technologies are used in education, professional presentations and communications, as well as in inclusive education, which has become an integral part of the school system. The goal of these technologies is to have a school that is tailored to children and not a school that imposes educational criteria. This also means that you study and work in line with your abilities, which, again, implies certain challenges and risks.
How can technology help to solve certain everyday problems in this sector?
As suggested by educators, we have begun working on sensory technology, i.e. using sensory integration technology to create sensory rooms that are used in medical therapy. We started with therapeutic methods, where a person can relax through the use of touch. Massage is the first format of sensory treatments. Humans, by their nature, are sensory robots with a system of diverse sensors – the sense of sight, smell, taste, hearing, balance and perception – whose skin is a network of sensory points.
All of our senses are sensors, so is our skin. In devising sensory rooms, our initial premise was that humans are sensory robots and if we influence their sensors, we can control their state. This is one-to-one work – there are one professional therapist and one patient. The treatment lasts an hour.
So far, we have created around 30 such rooms for schools with special needs students, preschools, health clinics and hospitals, both in Serbia and elsewhere in the region. We equip them and we produce the instruments. Our products are also between 40 and 100 per cent cheaper than those of our European counterparts.