Ever imagined your kids be taught by robots in school? Well, this has become a reality in a South Korean city where 29 robots have taken over English classes from human teachers.
As a part of the pilot program (sponsored by the government) aimed at testing the teaching abilities of robots, they began teaching English at 21 elementary schools in Daegu.
The egg shaped mechanical agents, developed by the Korea Institute of Science of Technology, are 3.3 feet high, have a TV panel that represents the face, and they can wheel around the classroom while teaching youngsters.
Not only these robots can read out books, but they can also shake their hands and legs to music, and play alphabet games with children.
“Having robots in the classroom makes the students more active in participating, especially shy ones afraid of speaking out to human teachers.”–educational official Kim Mi-Young
Monitored from Philippines
These cute little machines are monitored remotely by the English teachers in Philippines. The camera sends the feed or the instructions from the teacher to the receiver on the robot, who then displays the teacher’s face on the TV panel.
Also, the teachers can see and hear the children through the remote control system.
Wondering why these robots are controlled by teachers from Philippines? Sagong Seong-Dae, a senior scientist at KIST, explains that teachers from this country are “well educated, experienced” and far cheaper than their counterparts elsewhere, including South Korea.”
“Having robots in the classroom makes the students more active in participating, especially shy ones afraid of speaking out to human teachers,” she stated.
Tags: 3 feet, alphabet games, counterparts, dae, elementary schools, english teachers, human teachers, kist, korea institute, pilot program, remote control system, Robot, robots, sagong, scientist, south korea, south korean city, teaching english, tv panel, youngsters