Upon returning to class after the Golden Week holidays, students at a Tokyo elementary school were delighted to find their teacher had been replaced by a robot. The talking humanoid, named "Saya," was originally developed as a receptionist robot in 2004 by professor Hiroshi Kobayashi of the Tokyo University of Science, but has recently begun taking on work as a substitute teacher.
Amused students poke Saya's soft face
The robot, which can speak multiple languages, uses facial expressions to facilitate communication. With an array of motors in her head that stretch the soft synthetic skin into various positions, Saya can display emotions ranging from happiness and surprise to sadness and anger.
However, Saya needs to work on improving her classroom management skills. At present, she can't do much more than call out names and shout orders like "Be quiet." But that does not make her any less popular with the kids.
"Robots that look human tend to be a big hit with young children and the elderly," Kobayashi recently told the Associated Press. "Children even start crying when they are scolded."
[Source: Sankei]
Claudius
this is pretty amezing and funny.
[]djnforce9
I guess it's an ample substitute but could never replace a real human teacher or even supply teacher. The biggest challenge would be getting the students to actually "respect" this robot the same way they would with a real teacher. There are probably several reasons why that will not happen. The most obvious being the additional roles teachers take. This humanoid could not solve a personal problem (or dispute amongst students) for example and is probably very limited in terms of responses to common questions. Also, while it can say "be quiet" by monitoring the decibel (Db) level of the ambient sound in the classroom, I doubt it could catch students chit-chatting or not paying attention as that would require a lot of AI.
Anyhow, I can't see students viewing this as anything more than an elaborate computer. No wonder if needs "class management" improvements.
[]sam
may not get respect, but make its eyes turn red and have it spin its head around a few times and I bet those kids will get quiet and listen REAL fast.
"bzz bzz EXECUTING LAZER CHARGE...3,2,1...*spins head* QUIETQUIETQUIETQUIET"
[]Brian
Saya looks like michael jackson
[]Rick
More like Michael Jackson looks like a robot. :)
[]COUNT DUCKULA
You've got metal fever, boy
[]bob
Did they model it after Michael Jackson
[]Pauline
Well, it'll be better if they can make "her" prettier...( I'm sure they can! Look at those Japanese actresses on TV!)
[]linkz
Man the economy must be bad. Robots even have to reevaluate their career options.
[]toma
Horrible... and creepy. We're in the middle of the uncanny valley...
[]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley
Scott Wallace
Interesting in theory. I doubt that this is the wave of the future however! Classroom teachers do a LOT more than shout "Be quiet" and take attendance. And teaching by a robot? Don't get me started!!
That said, I have seen substitute teachers who could / should be replaced be a robot! (In fairness, most subs are pretty good ... didn't mean to slight substitute teachers!)
[]ashley
hello,i don"t think that any of the robot can be replaced by a hman substitute teacher
[]Hole:0
Looks more like michael jackson then a girl!
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