- Welcome to the University of Georgia
2020 virtual gradation ceremony.
(fireworks exploding)
(family cheering)
Turn you tassel again.
- I know my kids one day will be like
"Mom, you graduated during the pandemic?
"What did you do?"
And so I just think that's
going to be something
that you're not going to forget.
(speaking in a foreign language)
- [Narrator] As schools around the world
are trying to figure out
what to do about graduation
during the coronavirus pandemic
some have moved ahead
with robots and avatars.
Here's how they seize the opportunity
and got creative.
Ivan Campbell is a junior at
the University of Georgia.
- I know that if my graduation
were to suddenly not exist anymore
that I would be really
really hurt by that.
- [Newscaster] Junior Ivan
Campbell got creative.
- [Narrator] So he came up with the idea
of holding a graduation ceremony
in the video game Minecraft.
It's where players can build 3D worlds
with characters and experiences.
- I think that to sort of
physically be in a space
with other people,
even if it's not really physical.
I think that that brings
a lot to the experience.
We have this really really big stadium
called Sanford Stadium.
It's huge.
You know it can hold 50,000 people or so.
It's where we have our graduations.
- [Narrator] He knew he couldn't build
the entire stadium alone
and so Campbell teamed
up with other students.
- [Ivan] We referenced a
lot of our school schematics
that they had laid out
and we also used Googlemaps
with those streetviews
to get an idea of what
the spacial dimensions
need to look like within the game.
- [Narrator] Campbell says
there were lots of late nights
with the team over the three weeks
it took to build the stadium virtually.
(country rock music)
- And I've also become a little bit closer
with a lot of the other people.
It sort of brings us
together as a community.
- [Male GA Student] Good job Ivan.
(fireworks going off)
(students laughing and cheering)
- [Narrator] Though the school is holding
the official ceremony in October
the administration gave Campbell
the blessing to move ahead.
So on the big day more
than a dozen students
got ready at home
and showed up on the virtual campus.
- Hey that's me!
Astrophysics!
Girl go!
Ah!
Hello!
Let's give a jump.
Ha!
(Mackenzie laughing)
Oh, she gave me a jump (laughing)
- You are part of history.
This is a year no one will ever forget.
♪ Let's go! ♪
- [Ivan] Woo, you go to see the--
- [Mackenzie] Makin
you run boy! (laughing)
- [Ivan] Oh, that's so good.
- [Maile] Just so really blew
all that citations out the water.
- [Male Student] Time is
something that is beginning
to affect our--
- Class of 2020 is going
to be very memorable.
I do not think we are
going to be forgotten.
(speaking in a foreign language)
- [Narrator] Some universities
have not wanted to postpone
or cancel ceremonies altogether.
So this school came up with
the idea of using robots.
- Our BBT University is 100%
online.
- [Narrator] Shugo Yanaka is a professor
at the Business Breakthrough
University in Tokyo.
(tech music)
- [Shugo] Our university
have the graduation ceremony
once a year.
It's in person.
But this time the coronavirus situation,
students couldn't come together.
This truly online graduation
ceremony took place
with the professor actually
present at the venue.
Just watching video is kind of boring,
but the other third
have a physical presence
and making it seems like
human were actually there.
- [Narrator] About a
100 graduates attended
the virtual ceremony via video conference.
Four of them were chosen
to represent the class
and have their faces screened
onto the robot's heads.
(speaking in a foreign language)
Yanaka said he's gotten phone
calls from other schools
about tips for holding a
graduation with robots.
- [Shugo] We are facing
with difficult situation.
But I think it's a good
opportunities for us to
discover the possibilities around us.
- [Narrator] Campbell has
noticed other students
holding their own graduation
ceremonies in Minecraft.
- [Ivan] So many people in
the comments supported us.
It's really really nice to
have people getting together
in a time when people are apart.
♪ To Georgia ♪
- [Maile] It's kind of a joke right?
Where graduating--
- [Female Student] Yay '20.
That's right baby!
