In December 2010, Lauren Robinson walked into science class. "My throat started closing, "she remembers. "They called an ambulance (救护车), and I had to go to the hospital." It wasn't the first time that Lauren had to be rushed to the hospital. That's because Lauren, 15, has a food allergy (过敏症).
Many people have food allergies. But Lauren's allergy is much worse than most. She can't eat food that contains milk. When she was younger, Lauren could stay safe by choosing food carefully. That changed in middle school. By eighth grade, Lauren couldn't be in the same room with dairy products (乳制品). That's what happened in Lauren's science classroom. Earlier that day, students had held a pizza party. Cheese particles (微粒) still hung in the air. Lauren never returned to school after that.
In 2011, Lauren got great news. She could go to school and stay safe by driving a robot to class. Lauren controls it from home over the Internet, using a computer. She uses the keyboard to drive the robot from class to class. A video camera on the robot lets Lauren see what is going on in school. A video screen on the robot lets students and teachers see her. It has microphones (话筒) so that everyone can talk to Lauren too.
At first, Lauren thought that using the robot was "a weird idea". No one went to school like that. "I kept knocking into walls at first," says Lauren, laughing. "I'd keep falling！"But she got used to it quickly. Using the robot feels natural now. Lauren even created a way to "raise her hand" using the robot's headlights. "I can turn them on and off until the teacher sees me," she explains.
Lauren looks forward to going to college. She'd like to work in a medical job.
