Friday, March 30, 2012
Mr Robot, I want to start learning a new language today
This news article notes that a few weeks ago there was a show case of seven humanoid robots together for first time in the U.S. This project was funded the the National Science Foundation.
So can we imagine teaching language to a robot or having a robot teach us any language we want in a natural way? Maybe in the future once robots are more advanced and commercialized we could buy them a language chip and insert it to make them speak and understand a particular language. Then we will have robots or humanoids which/whom we could practice our language skills and recharge them if the battery is low, or they might recharge themselves I don’t know.
This article suggests that more autonomous human interaction will help the development of fully interactive humanoids.
Here is a interesting note from the article:
“Since current humanoids are not ready for unconstrained interaction with humans, having a consistent platform will facilitate rapid progress in areas needed for autonomy and natural interaction, including mobility, manipulation, vision, speech communication and cognition, and learning”. So what if researches make rapid progress in these areas? How do you feel about teaching to or being taught by a robot with those features?
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Okay, I think I saw this on ABC World News Tonight with Diana Sawyer too or something similar. Japan is trying to make teachers obsolete by using robots. Robots can be extremely knowledgeable, i.e. programmed to speak countless languages, programmed with an array of fields of study like science, math, literature, etc. Perhaps robots can be programmed to carry out other teacher tasks like roll call however, where is the human side of learning. Not to mention a fire in the building ... watering sprinklers come on ... what would happen to the robot teacher? Would it shut down? One never knows what could go wrong. We are human. Our children need teachers ...
ReplyDeleteCall me old fashion!
Fun post nevertheless Rick.
I think that the future of robots in our lives will be scary. I'm sure that a lot of money will be saved by using robots for jobs done by humans now, but I think that is unfortunate. There can be a place for robots to practice a foreign language with if there aren't any native speakers around, but hopefully keep it limited to that. I would hate to try learning from a robot, but I may soon be in the minority as people become more and more accustomed to dealing with robots. I guess I'm also old-fashioned.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I have no absolutely negative opinion on the robot teaching in the future, I don't think robot can really replace the work of teacher. As Cat mentions that we are human, we have emotions and thoughts. Our children need fleshy teachers who not only teach the human language, but also build students the specific thinking capability that robot cannot be programmed merely by a language chip. Maybe one day we can introduce the robot as teacher assistant in our class. The robots can assist teachers in passing out the class materials, reading the story aloud without feeling of tiredness... etc. Anyway, I am trying to imagine there must be something that are more suitable for robot teacher, and meanwhile robot's work can reduce the physical burden of human teachers.
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DeleteIn my opinion, humans will never be replaced by robots because it dose not make sense to do so. I think robots cannot provide personal help to the students as they cannot understand what they are saying. They just do what they are programmed to do.
ReplyDeleteI think the biggest difference between a teacher and a robot is a teacher's ability to assess a student. An experienced teacher can hear a student and know what that student needs to work on. An experienced teacher can see that a student is struggling and give him/her words of encouragement when learning gets tough. An experienced teacher is flexible, warm, and fun. You cannot use those adjectives to describe a computer. By design computers are rigid and exacting. And learning and teaching are not science. They can't be plugged into an equation and it just works. Teaching is an art. When a computer paints an original masterpiece then, I will worry. Until then, I see them as another tool to aide in my teaching.
ReplyDeleteRobots are becoming very important in the future. I read an article that in South Korea students in two elementary schools are being taught English by robot teachers which I think it’s great but robots will never take the place of a human teacher. Robots can be us to help students practice their English pronunciation and dialogue. Robots are a cost-effective way to help teachers when relatively simple and repetitive training is required but they cannot replace human teachers. I would enjoy being taught by a robot but I think I would also like to have a human teacher to interact with them.
ReplyDeleteI reckon that even though the development of high-tech robots is advanced, we still can not depend on being taught by a robot. I think the humanoids only play a role of offering support or assistance to language or content learner. I don't deny that the advanced robot has tons of knowledge so that human could get feedbacks immediately if they ask the humanoid. However, the knowledge in the robot's brain is embeded by human. Although it has millions of millions information, what if some question human asked are not in the robot's memory. Also, robot does not have human ways of teaching, it only can provide particular or given answers in the memory, not like human who will think and answer in a way of hommization. Therefore, people still have to learn and receive knowledge through human ways, and the robot is like podcasting, google, wiki, just offering extra support playing a role of helper, not a teacher.
ReplyDeleteIf the robot was cool, and not threatening to take over the world, I wouldn't mind if it was my teacher. I would not want to teach a robot though. If you have ever taught a student who lacks even an ounce of enthusiasm, which is how I imagine robots to be, then you too will steer clear of teaching robots in the future.
ReplyDeleteI like this idea! But I think the robot just can help the teacher to improve students' interesting, cannot will a teacher. I would enjoy being taught by a robot but I think I would also like to have a human teacher to interact with them.
ReplyDeleteGreat post Rick!!
ReplyDeleteRobotics is a broad field and the future can't be exactly predicted. However, most of us use computers on a daily basis and we still face some technical problems that required us to find a human to fix them. If robots will be used to help the teacher then why not!! but if they will be used to replace teachers then I don't believe it will be that great idea!! A machine can be quickly and effectively programmed,fast and has endless patience but I believe it cannot address the students' Psychological needs such as care, empathy and understanding.
Thank you!!
While I know virtually nothing about the field of Robotics, the movie, "I Robot" is what I am reminded of while reading this article. I agree with ReRe if a robot can effictively help with language learning, then they should be utlized. However, I also feel that there should be some type of bond and connection between educator and learner, and if a Robot starts doing that then ...Aaah. However, I do feel that Robotics will have a larger presence in the education field in the future, and I'm excited to see what it's going to be.
ReplyDeleteOne of our classmate said,"we are human,"I agree. As people we should protect our dignity and the principles of human beings. In my opinion, I do not believe if in some future "Artificial Intelligence" could provide any kind of "service" as teaching people another language. I think some processes could be controlled by humanoids, but they will not controlled, or teach human. Will be a decline in human life and a rise a robotic version of us, and what will occur if this happen? Now, if we realize, the fast progress of modern technology could surprise us, and we will sometime wonder "what is next to come?" As we know, the benefits of modern technology in school have opened up a whole new learning environment, but that does not mean if modern technology will replace human instructors using "robot teachers."
ReplyDelete