 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
This handout photo taken Monday shows an English-teaching robot, Engkey, standing in front of children at an elementary school in Daegu, 240 kilometers southeast of Seoul. Photo: AFP Robots have begun teaching English to children in the South Korean city of Daegu, education officials said Tuesday, in a pilot project designed to nurture the nascent robot industry. Engkey, a white, egg-shaped robot developed by the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), began teaching classes Monday at 21 elementary schools in the southeastern city of Daegu. The 29 robots, standing about one meter high and with a TV display panel for a face, wheeled around the classrooms while speaking to the students, reading books to them and dancing to music by moving their head and arms. The robots, which display an avatar face of a Caucasian woman, are controlled remotely by English teachers in the Philippines - who can see and hear the children via a remote control system. Cameras detect the Filipino teachers' facial expressions and instantly reflect them on the avatar's face, said Sagong Seong- Dae, a senior scientist at KIST. "Well-educated and experienced Filipino teachers are far cheaper than their counterparts elsewhere, including in South Korea," he told AFP. Apart from reading books, the robots can also call upon preprogrammed software to sing songs and play alphabet games with the children. "The kids seemed to love it since the robots look cute and interesting. But some adults have also expressed interest, saying they might feel less nervous when talking to a robot than to a real person," said Kim Mi-young, an official at the Daegu city education office. Kim said some robots might be sent for trial runs in remote areas of South Korea devoid of foreign English teachers. She said the robots are still being tested and that officials might consider hiring them full time were scientists to upgrade them and make them easier to han-dle and more affordable. "Having robots in the classroom makes the students more active in participating, especially shy ones who are afraid of speaking out to human teachers," Kim said. She stressed that the experiment was not about replacing human teachers with robots. "We are helping upgrade a key, strategic industry, and all the while we are providing children with an opportunity to be excited about learning," she added. The four-month pilot program is sponsored by the government, which has invested 1.58 billion won ($1.37 million) into it. AFP |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
