Robot teachers to invade Korean classrooms by 2012
By Donald Melanson 
posted February 22nd 2010 4:57PM
posted February 22nd 2010 4:57PM
We'd had some indication that robot teachers could be headed to classrooms sooner or later, but it looks like things may now be progressing faster than anyone thought. According to South Korea's etnews, the country has announced plans to invest in a so-called "R-Learning" program that promises to put robotic teaching assistants in up to 400 pre-schools by 2012, and expand to a full 8,000 pre-schools and kindergartens the following year. Those apparently wouldn't be in charge of the class (yet), but they would be used to do things like recite stories, and could let parents check in on the classroom and send messages to their children. If that trial program proves to be successful, the robots could then be expanded to elementary schools, and the Korea Institute of Science & Technology (the folks responsible for the bots) is apparently already eyeing international possibilities.
Looks almost like a robot chicken...
@WindSlash
A chicken in every pot and a robot in every classroom.
@WindSlash Stoopid Monkey!
...and terrorize the classroom with the ugly face
1. It would look cooler without the lips, less frightening too
2. If there was an LCD that showed some waves correspoding to the voice, that would be cool and probably keep the kids attention.
3. Some kid is gonna shove something in its head gap there and ruin it for the class.
@p0p0
Which "head gap" are you referring to? There seems to be a few of them. Personally, I immediately thought of the gap where its nose ought to be, and how good it would look with a carrot jammed in there.
And you thought your old teacher was a monster.
Ah, no more detentions what a perfect school day if only this had been around in 03-07 my life would have been much easier :)
I worked on these guys in collaboration with KAIST 2 years back. The mainstream versions actually do have LCD screens with faces which react to user's emotions etc.
I, for one, welcome our robotic instructional unit overlords.
ARGGGGGGHHHHHHH! Dont Kill Fantasies...Think about the children!
Random voice:"moves up 500RPM"
...Well hello Rosie(Jetsons)..giggty"
@Glen Quagmire
Good gawd, sexual innuendo is the least of our worries for these kids when you are here.
Unreal, I wanna go back to school... in Korea
*switches to Shredder rounds*
sorry, Mass Effect 2 reflexes.
@Eternal Density
You fool, shredder rounds take out organics. You want Disruptor rounds to take out synthetics!
@Prevacator
Wait... I was supposed to kill the synthetics? Oops.
Quick, if you help me fix up these kids with glowing cybernetics I think no one will notice the difference...
UNACCEPTABLE!
They're only going to teach our kids to roll over and surrender when Skynet attacks.
that thing will scare my future kids for sure...
So...I can't imagine pupils will have a crush on their teacher anymore, huh?
...or what? http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/12/16/japan.virtual.wedding/index.html
Sky Net infiltrating the schools already. What next, Terminator runs for president. Oh shit judgement day is closer than we think..
@BluescreenOD
You don't know the half of it...
Psh w/e... Number Munchers taught me factors, multiples, and primes
WHAT NOW!
New past time: Hacking the teacher into not giving you homework!
Do the literally mean 'invade' the classroom?
i was expecting to see a hot robotic chick in a classroom, not a robotic chicken
So, is teaching such a mundane task in Korea, that there is a great need for robots to replace human teachers? I don't understand how everyone takes this so positively.
@Looonyz Especially my french teacher, wears short miniskirts and likes to sit legs wide open infront of the class. Damn it why did she have to be 25! It seriously gets distracting.
Great. 11 more years to go before I can retire from my job teaching chemistry. I hope I don't get replaced by a robot before then.
Ah, good, i was worried it was gonna scare the kids..
Does the koreans know nothing about december 21st of that said year?
a CHICK ! ...en hahahahaah LOL !
now even robots will take over that job ... man this is worrying
While they build robots we build????
I don't like where some of this technology is taking us...there's a limit to everything.
I don't like where some of this technology is taking us...there's a limit to everything.
"A is for Axiom, your home sweet home. B is for Buy N Large, your very best friend."
Class of 1999
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099277/
Damn! Those kids on the picture will need years of therapy.
And they are entrusting their child to them by 2012. The Mayans was right.
What are teachers over that lazy to teach? Com on' The robot breaks down and all the kids their will party and do what ever they want probably to leave class.
Skynet anybody?