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Human-like robot smiles, scolds in Japan classroom
The perfect dispenser of
scripted curriculum, and this emplooyee doesn't
need health insurance.
Associated Press
TOKYO - Japan's robot teacher calls roll,
smiles and scolds, drawing laughter from
students with her eerily lifelike face. But the
developer says it's not about to replace human
instructors.
Unlike more mechanical-looking robots like
Honda Motor Co.'s Asimo, the robot teacher,
called Saya, can express six basic emotions —
surprise, fear, disgust, anger, happiness,
sadness — because its rubber skin is being
pulled from the back with motors and wiring
around the eyes and the mouth.
In a demonstration, the robot's mouth popped
open, its eyes widened and eyebrows arched to
appear surprised. Saya pulled back on its lips
to make a smile, and said simple preprogrammed
phrases such as "Thank you," while its lips
moved, to express pleasure.
"Robots that look human tend to be a big hit
with young children and the elderly," Hiroshi
Kobayashi, Tokyo University of Science
professor and Saya's developer, told The
Associated Press Wednesday. "Children even
start crying when they are scolded."
First developed as a receptionist robot in
2004, Saya was tested in a real Tokyo classroom
earlier this year with a handful of fifth and
sixth graders, although it still can't do much
more than call out names and shout orders like
"Be quiet."
The children had great fun, Kobayashi recalled,
tickled when it called out their names. Still,
it's just remote-controlled by a human watching
the interaction through cameras, he said.
Japan and other nations are hopeful robotics
will provide a solution for their growing labor
shortage problem as populations age. But
scientists express concern about using a
machine to take care of children and the
elderly.
Ronald C. Arkin, professor at the Georgia
Institute of Technology, said more research in
human-robot interaction is needed before overly
relying on robots.
"Simply turning our grandparents over to teams
of robots abrogates our society's
responsibility to each other, and encourages a
loss of touch with reality for this already
mentally and physically challenged population,"
he said.
Noel Sharkey, robotics expert and professor at
the University of Sheffield, believes robots
can serve as an educational aid in inspiring
interest in science, but they can't replace
humans.
"It would be delusional to think that such
robots could replace a human teacher," he said.
"Leading scientists, engineers and
mathematicians, almost without exception, talk
about that one teacher who inspired them. A
robot cannot be that kind of inspirational role
model."
Kobayashi says Saya is just meant to help
people and warns against getting hopes up too
high for its possibilities.
"The robot has no intelligence. It has no
ability to learn. It has no identity," he said.
"It is just a tool."
But would he create a robot in human form, say,
a fantasy friend with movie-star looks?
"Sure," he says, "If you're willing to pay."
That made-to-order robot will cost about 5
million yen ($51,000), he said.
— Associated Press
Yahoo!Tech.com
2009-03-11
http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20090311/ap_on_hi_te/as_japan_teacher_robot_1
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