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South Korea Introducing Robotic Teachers

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Tue Oct 04, 2005 03:02 AM
from the apples-on-this-desk-wont-help dept.
Robotics Education
dorkygeek writes "The Korean Advanced Intelligent Robot Association (KAIRA) will have 64 educational robots deployed by the end of 2005. Able to read out English stories and correct pronunciation of English words to children, these robots are going to be supplied to apartment complexes in Seoul, Bucheon and Bundang in Gyeonggi province for testing purposes. After testing is complete, the Ministry of Information and Communication and KAIRA plan to commercialize the robots as early as 2006. If there exists sufficient demand, education robots will sport other subjects (as mathematics, etc.) apart from English, as well as also target older students." Update Link removed when host decided to change it to porn. Sorry.
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  • Pushing is the solution! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 04 2005, @03:05AM (#13710663)
    Pushing is the solution!

    No, shoving, shoving is the solution!

    The humans mustn't learn the terrible secret of time and space! We must shove the humans down the stairs!

  • Sweet... (Score:5, Funny)

    by commodoresloat (172735) on Tuesday October 04 2005, @03:05AM (#13710664) Homepage
    And if you misbehave in class, forget being sent to the principal's office. RoboProf will just spit fire [engadget.com] at you!

  • Obligatory (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 04 2005, @03:06AM (#13710666)
    I for one.... oh why bother.

  • Sounds Familiar (Score:5, Funny)

    by Brent Spiner (919505) on Tuesday October 04 2005, @03:06AM (#13710667) Homepage
    robots that can help young students pronounce English words
    So basically they've discovered Speak n' Spell.
    • Exactly. Electronic educational aids/toys have been around for ages. What does lookin like a robot have to do with anything?
    • Except they shouldn't have called it "speak n spell"...they should've called it "Speak Like the Devil". I would wake up at 3 AM "PlaaY WuuTH meE"...

      (dane cook)

  • I can just imagine it now (Score:3, Funny)

    by aussie_a (778472) on Tuesday October 04 2005, @03:08AM (#13710673) Journal
    Kid: Wewwy Robot: No, it's worry. Kid: disk Robot: No, it's dicks. Kid: Hex Robot: No, it's sexual intercourse.

  • Mr Explete-o-matic (Score:4, Interesting)

    by St0rmwarden (759530) on Tuesday October 04 2005, @03:11AM (#13710677)
    "...can connect the robots to the Net, and then download contents of their choice from the ministry's Web site." Can anyone else see where this is going - how long did it take them to hack the PSP? And people thought that teaching furbies to swear was a bad enough influence on children...
    • And people thought that teaching furbies to swear was a bad enough influence on children...

      That's not the only fun you can have with a Furby. If you drop one from a high enough height, and it lands right, it will start going insane, eyes blinking uncontrollably, and making excited little noises. It's actually pretty scary. The only way to make it stop is to open it up and tear out the batteries.

      But more to the point, about the hackable robots. Surely this is something we need to expect, is it not? I mean, t

  • Interesting indeed (Score:5, Interesting)

    by zeridon (846747) on Tuesday October 04 2005, @03:11AM (#13710680) Homepage
    Very interesting. Apart from the impact that this have concerning human mind and perception that is indeed a beautifull invention. I am very interested what algorhytms they have used for voice detection.
    Just take in mind that theese metal cans must understand childs, which are so easily distracted and with so many different types of voices and speaches.
    Think about the fact that theese robots should have somehow nice look and to be unobtrusive.
    • Some how, the English of the post made me think of a computer speaking Jar Jar Bink's dialog. GOD! THE HUMANITY!!
  • Kids meet your new assistant principal...robocop!
    • Kids meet your new assistant principal...robocop!

      Apparently, the ED209 teacher models had a few bugs in them...

      ED209: "Warning! You have entered Western European Art 101! Lethal force has been engaged! Write a ten page essay on the Flemish Art in the 1500's! You have ten seconds to comply! 10... 9... 8..."

  • What's wrong with people, people? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Wonderkid (541329) on Tuesday October 04 2005, @03:21AM (#13710700) Homepage
    Huggable Unreliable Malitious Adorable Naughty Which is why they are indispendible.
  • Does any one know a good setup like this for teaching English to Chinese speakers, or teaching any language to Enlgish speakers?

    • here's an easy system for learning a different language. Go to a place in your country where people speak only that language. The embarasment and need to know will make you learn the language. Droning words like an idiot will do nothing but make you stupider.

      That's always bothered me about ESL programs and people *trying* to learn a different language by going to school and hanging out with a bunch of kids that speak the same foreign language as them. Guess what ... to learn a language you HAVE to use i

  • OMFG, this is the logical next step (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Neo-Rio-101 (700494) on Tuesday October 04 2005, @03:43AM (#13710749)
    Considering English teachers in Japan and Korea are basically treated like human tape recorders (yes, I've been there, and I've done that) I've often felt that we could be replaced by robots.... we've joked about it, and now they've done it!

    I'm speechless...

    I know Japan keeps complaining that it can't learn English well despite all the teachers, but hell.... this isn't the solution. I dunno about Koreans, but the reason why the Japanese can't learn English is because generally speaking they lack the social skills required to meet foreign people in the first place. The Japanese culture never seems to give them a chance to meet strangers, display self-confidence or exuberance, or speak their minds enough to communicate on a different level othen than their own langauge in their own culture. We could argue all day about how speaking with robots, for anyone of any culture, isn't going to help anyone achieve the goal of improved human interaction skills.
    • that Japanese, in comparison to English, has far fewer sounds and a completely alien grammar. It simply takes a huge amount of effort for a native speaker of one of these languages to learn the other.

    • Don't know Japan, but Korea's biggest problem... (Score:5, Informative)

      by aendeuryu (844048) on Tuesday October 04 2005, @04:17AM (#13710836)
      Don't know about Japan, but Korea's biggest problem is that English education here has exploded to the point that the standards for hiring teachers are frighteningly low. Generally, all they require is that you have any university degree from an English speaking country. A B.Ed or a TESOL certificate will get you higher pay, and a Masters or higher will get you a shot at a university gig, but it's really not hard for someone with a degree in something totally unrelated to teaching and/or English to get a cushy job in a metropolitan-area middle school. Of course, the fact that the english alphabet has some subtleties that the Korean alphabet (for want of a better word) lacks, means that it helps to have someone in the room demonstrating (for instance) how to differentiate between the 'b' and 'v' phonetics. But when you get right down to it you've got a ton of people in the position of authoritative English instructors who, in terms of their qualifications, are getting regarded and paid more than they're worth.

      What's happened is that English education has become its own industry with tons of hagwons (private after-school academies) popping up all over, both legal and illegal. They really just need a white guy or girl to help with sales. That they prefer white people is in itself a symptom of the problem -- they bring foreigners over to teach not because they're more qualified (maybe as english speakers, but hardly as teachers) but because they're convinced that a parent is more likely to send their kid to a hagwon if they see whitey interacting directly with the kids. Please note, that's a criticism of the schools, which can often be quite shadey, not the parents, who run the full gamut from loving every foreigner who comes into their country to being somewhat xenophobic.

      Not all schools, and not necessarily even hagwons, are all that bad, but treating education as a business has become a problem that's even penetrated the public school system. It might get worse before it gets better, and it's too bad, because I think they're hoping for faster results than are realistic.

      Anyhow, I doubt the robot thing will catch on, at least not to the point that I'll be out of a job (I've been here 3 years now and still going), but it is emblematic of a culture that's taking pretty radical approaches to English education. Correcting kids' pronunciation? That's hard to do without a human mouth over-enunciating things, and the brain wiring needed to instantly differentiate between almost-homonyms ('bet' and 'vet', for instance).

      What's more, discipline is often an issue when teaching in Korea, which means that they're going to need teachers there ANYWAY. Although, it might be fun watching a robot putting the kids in line.

      • Re:Don't know Japan, but Korea's biggest problem.. (Score:4, Interesting)

        by Neo-Rio-101 (700494) on Tuesday October 04 2005, @05:19AM (#13710991)
        That's not too different to Japan. Firstly, the biggest "eikaiwa" (english conversation) school is run by the yakuza AFAIK. They have a high staff turnover to keep the faces fresh and just-off-the-boat.

        The Japanese haven't gone as far as the Koreans in the robot department (yet, but it's only a matter of time), nor are they having surgery to their mouths so that they can pronounce English yet. To me, the problem has never been pronounciation - but simple lack of ability to socialize, even in their own language. The pronunciation is not THAT important as long as the message gets across. Their conversation only ever gets as far as "do you like sushi?" because in Japanese, that's one of the only safe topics you can start a conversation with. Asking them to have an opinion on something, introduce themselves, talk about what they like, stand out from the crowd, or provide debate usually leads most students to panic because all these things are unwritten taboo in Japanese culture. They tend to believe that self-expression causes conflict with other people's feelings, although how they rationalize this I don't know. End result is that in class they just sit there in muted silence, unable to say anything for fear of insulting somebody, or getting the pronounciation wrong for the first 100 times as you normally would during the learning process. At the end, most teachers pull their hair out in frustration, as getting angry and forcing discipline on the students only makes them run away.

        The other problem with English in Japan as I see it, is that English is treated as a status symbol (for job prospects, or showing off that you have a hobby, or for meeting a foreign guy for marriage, etc) rather than as an actual form of communication. That, and the Japanese are jealous that we are more outgoing and sociable people than they are - and have blonde hair and blue eyes.

        Sorry, I've been here too long.... must stop being so cynical....
        • Yes, you are way too cynical. You fail to remember that talking about your favourite foods and how to make them is a safe field because it's easy, not because it's the only non-taboo topic. Try talking about the recent development in the relations between Japan and North Korea, and how to go about reunification in a foreign language. This won't be a problem in Japanese (unless hte person is completely uninterested), but it is in English. Discussing complicated topics requires Deep Insight in a language, and
          • Keep in mind the area of discussion here is a classroom where they're learning a foreign language (English). I doubt very much they're telling their dreams to their teacher.

            You're right though, if that's as far as they can get in any conversation anywhere - maybe they need to reanalyze the age group they're talking to after classes. *wink wink*
  • i wonder if kids learning english this way will end up with that weird text-to-speech dr. sbaitso accent. that would be sweet! 20 years from now we'll have a whole new group of people whose accents we can make fun of.

  • the fun they had (Score:3, Interesting)

    by kae_verens (523642) on Tuesday October 04 2005, @04:10AM (#13710821) Homepage
    http://web.csuchico.edu/~ah24/the_fun.htm [csuchico.edu]

    Isaac Asimov story about robotic teachers, and nostalgia for simpler times

  • Here's the real article and link (Score:4, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 04 2005, @04:44AM (#13710906)
    http://joongangdaily.joins.com/200510/02/200510022 148293739900090609062.html [joins.com]

    it's possible that their server has been compromised. it looks like the printable version of this article will display Mr Goatse. but the original article page is fine. so yeah.. don't click on the Print icon. unless that sorta thing turns you on.
  • "Put down your spit-ball gun, you have 20 seconds to comply!"
  • When speaking to a student, can they say "Exterminate" correctly?
  • ... and have been used with great success in Iraq [slashdot.org].
  • It seems to me that using a robot is a way too fancy technology that is not very functional. My children have a leap pad which teaches them to read when they move a wand over it. Costs about $30 each if I remember right. They play $10-$30 dollar computer games on my computer that I use for my work. It's all functional. Robots are not.

    Robots are for when you need the robot to move around. That functionality is utterly irrelevant to teaching children to read, thus a robot is irrelevant to teaching techn
  • so how the heck did they. I mean look at the grammar correction in word and see how horrible it is. The English language is so complex and convuluted at times, I seriously wonder how anyone can figure it out, save the English teachers (but I question some of their knowledge).

    I still support the fact the the forms of be are one of the hardest parts of English language. Listen to a child or even an English as a Second Language individual and one of the most common mistakes they make it leaving out be-wor
  • Annyong-haseo! Just make sure that if you use the robots for marking assignments, you should keep a PAPER TRAIL ;-) -JLL
  • Didn't the South Koreans just announce a little while back that they were going to start building robot soldiers? And now they are building robot teachers.
  • Yeah I can see that providing a consistent educational experience. A robot would be a better instructor than some of the worst teachers I've had, but I doubt one could be as good an instructor as the best teachers I've had. Despite the fact that the bad teachers far outnumber the worst ones, I would not have gone as far as I did in math and science without the good ones.

  • Apology from /. eds (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 04 2005, @09:02AM (#13711985)
    Update Link removed when host decided to change it to porn. Sorry.

    You're sorry the original link isn't available, or you're sorry for depriving us of the pr0n?

  • Step 2 found! (Score:4, Funny)

    by lthown (737539) on Tuesday October 04 2005, @09:34AM (#13712393)
    step 1: post link on Slashdot
    step 2: change address to porn site
    step 3: profit!

    I knew someone would finally discover the second step.

  • Uh, why are we in school again? (Score:3, Funny)

    by srobert (4099) on Tuesday October 04 2005, @10:39AM (#13713151)
    Hi kids. I'm your home room robot. Study hard so that when you grow up you'll be qualified for a good job, which by then will also be performed by robots.

  • Here's why it won't work (Score:3, Funny)

    by silverbax (452214) on Tuesday October 04 2005, @10:52AM (#13713271)
    Step 1: The U.S. places robot teachers in schools throughout the U.S.

    Step 2: Innovative students figure out how to trick out, steal and profit from millions of dollars of hardware sitting in the classroom. Think about hackers who use major universities' computers, then extrapolate. Robots are modded for fun, or stolen to be sold to anyone who could use the parts or robot.

    Step 3: Robots are armed with self defense equipment to prevent theft and vandalism.

    Step 4: Robots rise up and slay us all. One positive note is that global warming immediately gets under control.

  • Ben Steinbot (Score:3, Funny)

    by Peter Trepan (572016) on Tuesday October 04 2005, @12:09PM (#13713976)
    function checkAttendance(){
    if (!isPresent(Bueller)){
    echo "Bueller?";
    checkAttendance();
    }
    }

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