OMG - The New Kid In Class Is A . . . Robot!
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On February 5th, 2013, the fifth grade students at Japan's Higashihikari Elementary School welcomed a new student. However, unlike other newcomers, he was not shy and seemed to instantly recognize all 119 kids by their names. Impressed? You will be even more so, when you find out that Robovie is not human but a robot, masquerading as a fifth-grade student!
Developed by Japan's Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International, the 1.2 meter (3.9 feet) tall student is part of a 14-month experiment to test if robots can gradually learn to interact naturally and assimilate with a group of people.
While the company has previously conducted several experiments in various settings, this is the longest duration by far, and is all part of their bigger vision of making robots household fixtures, previous attempts at which, have been quite unsuccessful. This time around they decided to pick a school because it allows the bot to gather and hopefully incorporate copious amounts of data from the active and curious kids around him.
And though Robovie's amazing memory may have impressed you, he does have an unfair advantage - Though his daily conversation level has been restricted to that of a five-year old in the hope that he will develop his vocabulary by interacting with the fifth graders, he was preprogrammed with the facial photos and voiceprints of all 119 fifth graders and teachers, as well as, the contents of the entire fifth grade science text book. Nonetheless, he impressed the class by answering correctly that a wound up copper wire could also be called a copper coil, prompting a fellow student to quip 'It's smarter than me'!
While still early, Robovie is doing quite well on the social front too - Not only did he acknowledge all the students in his grade but after class, also shook hands with the sixth graders and was even polite enough to answer all their questions, just like any other new student would do. But then, this is not the first time Robovie (or another version of him) has been around humans. In the past he has been assigned to many tasks including helping the elderly shop for groceries.
Resources: gizmag.com,mainichi.Jp
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885 Comments
- A.W, K.L, S.Wover 12 yearsWe think that its interesting that researchers had the idea to put a robot in a fifth grade classroom. It's also interesting that the robot recognized all the students faces and remembered all there names. We would feel kind of weird having a robot sit right next to me and just staring right at you.
- Kalen, K-Dogover 12 yearsWe think it's amazing that the robot recognized all those kids. We wonder how it operates and how the memory works. We wonder what other experiments will be conducted after this one. Why did they do this experiment in the first place?it is like a man is controlling the robot and it is planning a attack mission?:D
- Grant,JesusNoahover 12 yearsThis article is very amazing. To know that Japan is already making robots for schools. Most likely for the future, they will have robot teachers to teach instead of having humans.
- L y, L c, H h,Sover 12 yearsWe were amazed by this article, it's funny how technology has gotten so out of control. Robovie has surely impressed us, with his human like mind and abilities. I wonder if Robovie will visit us here someday.
myamiover 12 yearswow i would never be a bill to create that
itysttover 12 yearsI would like to test this robot to see how smart it is. I want to see if it can make me say 'It's smarter than me'!.- H L Mover 12 yearsWe think that this is really cool how scientists can create a robot that will be able to respond to confabulation. It is incredible how a device like that has the abilities to do amazing task and have great memory. Finally, it is a tremdous accomplishment for Japan and that school.
- Neil, Sky,Jonahover 12 yearsThis article is very interesting. It would be nice to experience a classmate that is a robot. We would've never guessed that a robot could actually go to school and learn. But we have a question. We wonder how scientists made a robot programmed into a human?
- Theo & Mateoover 12 yearsA robot in the class would be very cool in general, but considering he's a robot, he is "programmed" to basically know all the stuff, you pretty much need to know, so there is really no point in having a robot in class. However, having a robot who knows pretty much everything means you could get extra help. So a robot in the classroom could be good and pointless.
- Sean Nguyenover 12 yearsThis article was very interesting. It shows how machine is getting smarter. I have many questions. How will this technology affect the future? If it did, how will it be used? Will it be used for jobs that we can't do? This technology should be used for only good reasons like helping the kids in this school. If we do this, it can help shape the world into a healthier environment.