School pupils are to be taught by the world’s first robot teacher in one of the most radical uses so far of android technology. The device, created by scientists after 15 years of research, is being trialed at a primary school in Tokyo.
Named Saya, she can speak different languages, carry out roll calls, set tasks and make facial expressions – including anger – thanks to 18 motors hidden behind her latex face.
Her creator, science professor Hiroshi Kobayashi at the University of Tokyo, had been working on a robot for 15 years. She is the latest example of robots spreading to every aspect of life in Japan. The Japanese government has said that by 2015 it wants a robot in every home and is pouring $35 million (£23 million) into robotic intelligence to make it happen.
The push is because of Japan’s ageing population – in seven years one in four Japanese will be over 65 – which means the workforce is declining, pushing up wage costs for businesses and making recruitment difficult. Telegraph.co.uk
While this is a pretty amazing invention, I can’t see these robot teachers being such a good thing outside of Japan. If they ever brought something like that into the American public school system – which they probably won’t ever do because education funding is like an extremely low priority and our teachers barely get paid so why would the government pay for these robots – I couldn’t imagine such positive stories as a result.
The kids in Japan must be pretty well-behaved to learn by a robot. If they brought a teacher robot into the classroom at an average American public school, they’d better make it bullet-proof and able to withstand extreme abuse. That robot probably wouldn’t make it past a day. Maybe not even 30 minutes.
Because I went to public school in Atlanta, and my mom and aunt are teachers, I’ve heard way too many crazy education stories. The story below of the student who fought the substitute teacher in Atlanta last year comes to mind:
Yeah, they’d have to completely program those robots to be able to box and take a bullet in addition to knowing how to teach.
Oh, my goodness…..I could never imagine. I am a former teacher and that video makes me shake my head in shame.
I think at this point you could get a speaker box ala Charlie’s Angels to teach kids. it would keep the teachers safe plus kids are not really being taught today anyway are they? They are being prepared to take test which is not the same thing, we dont live in a multiple choice world.