Short and shy, Ben Saunders was the last kid in his class picked for any sports team. "Football, tennis Cricket — anything with a round ball, I was useless." he says now with a laugh. But back then he was the object of jokes in school gym classes in England’s rural Devonshire.
It was a mountain bike he received for his 15^th birthday that changed him. At first the teen went biking alone in a nearby forest. Then he began to cycle along with a runner friend. Gradually, Saunders set his mind building up his body, increasing his speed, strength and endurance. At age 18, he ran his first marathon.
   The following year, he met John Ridgway, who became famous in the 1960s for rowing an open boat across the Atlantic Ocean. Saunders was hired as an instructor at Ridgway’s school of Adventure in Scotland, where he learned about the older man’s cold-water exploits (成就). Intrigued, Saunders read all he could about Arctic explorers and North Pole expeditions, then decided that this would be his future. Journeys to the Pole aren’t the usual holidays for British country boys, and many people dismissed his dream as fantasy. "John Ridgway was one of the few who didn’t say, ’You are completely crazy,’" Saunders says.
   In 2001, after becoming a skilled skier, Saunders started his first long-distance expedition toward the North Pole. He suffered frostbite, had a closer encounter (遭遇) with a polar bear and pushed his body to the limit.
   Saunders has since become the youngest person to ski alone to the North Pole, and he’s skied more of the Arctic by himself than any other Briton. His old playmates would not believe the transformation.
   This October, Saunders, 27, heads south to explore from the coast of Antarctica to the South Pole and back, an 1800-mile journey that has never been completed on skis.

    Anyone who has had a long-term illness knows that recovering at home can be lonely. This is can be especially true of children. They may feel isolated（孤立的）from their friends and classmates. Now, a small robot may help children who are recovering from a long-term illness in the hospital or at home. The robot takes their place at school. Through the robot, the children can hear their teachers and friends. They can also take part in classroom activities from wherever they are recovering – whether at home or from a hospital bed.

    The robot is called AV1.It is created by a company called “No Isolation”. AV1 goes to school for a child who is at home while recovering from a long-term illness. And the child's school friends must help. They carry the robot between classes and place the robot on the child's desk.

    Dolva, one co-funder （创始人）of No Isolation, explains how the robot AV1 works. She says, “the robot sits at the child's desk in the classroom and the child at home uses a tablet（平板电脑）or a phone to start it, control its movement with touch, and talk through it. So the robot becomes the eyes, the ears and the voice of the child at school.” The robot is equipped with speakers, microphones and cameras that make communicating easy. Moreover，The AVI was designed to be tough. It is water-resistant(防水) and can take a fall from a desk without damage. Inside AV1 is a small computer connected to a 4G network. AV1 is large and looks like a human for a reason. Dolva thinks this is important because the robot is expected to be a friend to the children.

    The robot just became available to the public. Hopefully AV1 will help some children feel less lonely while they are absent from class.