It’s been a good week for ... graduating

Alabama high school student Cynthia Pettway was ill in hospital and physically unable to make it to her high school graduation. So a robot helped her out.

Pettway, of Mobile, virtually crossed her graduation stage and received her diploma thanks to the robot and an iPad.

The crowds at LeFlore High School's Class of 2018 graduation cheered when the virtual graduand, kitted out in a cap and gown, rolled across the stage with an iPad in place of a face. Instead, on the screen, Pettway was pictured live streaming for the ceremony.

She was wearing her own cap and gown in the USA Children's and Women's Hospital conference room, where 40 family members had gathered to cheer her on.

An emotional Pettway, who has a condition that requires regular hospital treatment, was seen on the iPad screen wiping away tears from her eyes. She said she was determined to attend her graduation by any means possible.

Pettway explained: “When I first got the news that I was not going to be able to leave the hospital to attend my graduation from Leflore High School I was so sad. I did not want to miss this once-in-a-lifetime milestone. I had worked so hard in night classes just to finish so I could graduate.”

She added that the actual experience was better than she had anticipated.

“The best part was when they called my name and I rolled across the stage. I could hear all the screaming at the ceremony and all the cheering in the hospital. I was so hyped up and then I got so emotional. I cried a lot,” she said.

The hospital helped co-ordinate the special walk across the stage, lending their robot which uses iPads to transport patients to wherever they want to go.

An A+ for artificial intelligence.

It’s been a bad week for ... travelling

The wrong type of leaves on the line ... the wrong kind of snow ... points failures galore ...

There are many ways to derail the daily commute by train.

So we extend sympathy to Japanese travellers after a rail company had to apologise for a train not running to time.

The offending train, the 07:11 from Notogawa Station, was not late, though. It left the station 25 seconds early.

The operator said the "great inconvenience we placed upon our customers was truly inexcusable".

There’s nothing worse than the wrong kind of leaving on the line.