DURHAM, N.C. – A student who is suffering from “painful syndromes” can now attend school via a “robotic telepresence.”

Max LaDue has a chronic GI disorder and missed more than 100 days at the School for Creative Studies last year, according to ABC 11.

MORE NEWS: From Classroom to Consulate Chef: Culinary Student Lands Dream Job at U.S. Embassy in Paris

“Max would go to school when he was feeling OK and well. We would try to push him to go but he would come home early…he just couldn’t make it through a full day,” the boy’s mother, Judi LaDue, says.

Max, a 7th grader, now attends school by way of a VGO Telerobot.

“It’s honestly awesome so I don’t get behind and have to worry about a pile of work this high just because I wasn’t there,” the students tells the news station.

“I tell people my son goes to school as a robotic telepresence, and you see their minds about to explode,” Max’s mother tells WNCN. “It’s the most wonderful thing that could ever happen to a sick kid.”

The VGO has a camera and video screen that he can maneuver from a computer. He can see his classmates and they can see him.

He participates in class by flashing a light instead of raising his hand.

MORE NEWS: Know These Before Moving From Cyprus To The UK

He can even operate the device to roll down the hallway to his next class.

“I can move around the robot with the arrow keys and just walk it around,” Max tells the news station.

“It really does feel like I’m there. I can talk to the kids there and they’ll talk back – it’s pretty awesome.”

“It was almost like homework prison for him before, and now, he’s doing projects with kids. He’s collaborating on things with other kids at school,” his mother says.

“I want my child to be a normal kid and the VGO lets him be a normal kid.”

Max is the first “first interactive telerobot” used by a student to attend class.

ABC 11 reports the device cost about $12,000 and Durham Public Schools bought three of them.

“Being there makes it much easier than not being there. I’m a very hands-on kind of person,” Max says. “I feel like I’m very lucky to get such an experience, because otherwise I’d just be sitting here 12 hours a day doing absolutely nothing.”