|
Korean Job Discussion Forums
"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Teachers from Around the World!"
|
| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
vox
Joined: 13 Feb 2005
Location: Jeollabukdo
|
 Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2007 7:14 pm Post subject: The ESL Classroom Robot Makes Its Debut! |
 |
|
I thought I'd post this for a little smile.
Actually the folow-up link is a year old, but it was re-posted today on MSN's technology news page.
An ESL teacher-assistant robot helped a Korean teacher teach class in Euon primary school in South Korea.
http://lifestyle.sympatico.msn.ca/The+robots+are+coming/Home/ContentPosting_50Plus.aspx?isfa=1&newsitemid=3616816a-20cb-48e3-98b6-b0644663b055&feedname=50_PLUS&show=False&number=0&showbyline=True&subtitle=&detect=&abc=abc
I laughed when I thought about how many jobs it could cut, but then I laughed even harder when I thought about how many waygookin would pony up to buy it once they saw the picture
| Quote: |
| Some of these service robots are incredibly life-like. Take the case of the female android, EveR-1. Appearing to be a Korean female in early 20s, EveR-1 can hold a conversation, make eye contact, and seemingly express emotions such as joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness. (See a photo of the Korean female android in her 20's here) http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/05/android-korea-1.html |
Apparently Japan's in on it too!
| Quote: |
| Researchers at Osaka University in Japan unveiled their own life-size female android, Repliee Q1, last June. That robot could "speak," and gesture and even appeared to breathe but, like EveR-1, was only mobile from the waist up. |
So many jokes... so little time... |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
ddeubel
Joined: 20 Jul 2005
|
| Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2007 7:19 pm Post subject: |
|
|
You will hear more of this thing but I don't think of it as "revolutionary".
Still, it helps. You can find our EFL Classroom Dave bot through the main page. Link below and click on the link on your right when you get there "Bot Chat".
Amazing, he speaks like a person with some slip ups. Great place for your students to practice.
DD |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Smee
Joined: 24 Dec 2004
Location: Jeollanam-do
|
| Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2007 7:49 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Didn't we just read on another thread that there is a surplus of (Korean) teachers? What the hell is the point of this robot? Doesn't say much about the state of education when a robot provides more authentic English than the teachers. Does it do anything a CD player can't? Just another completely ridiculous idea to hit the field of English education in Asia.
And for those saying "I'd bash it," the robot isn't even that hot, and probably doesn't have working parts. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
sojourner1
Joined: 17 Apr 2007
Location: Where meggi swim and 2 wheeled tractors go sput put chug alugg pug pug
|
| Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2007 8:04 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I have been suspecting this all along for real after seeing Androids like EveR-1 and HUBO in Korea and videos of several others in Japan. Futurists, this is the prelude.
These things are still at a level that the PC was in the 1980's, but they will become technological marvels in the coming next decade and possibly beyond. There are real ethical dilemmas of a robot serviced society as we are on the brink of having just that which could become even a larger social issue than the ongoing ethical debate of stem cells and cloning.
My concern in having functional service and even knowledge worker bots is it will depersonalize, desensitize, and dehumanize us to be drones while the job markets wouldn't yield much for young adults. While I don't believe in taking away our liberties and civil rights, the only way I believe to make a robot society work is to have a communist/military/police state system where everyone is assigned a place to live and work within society so that people are not left out in the cold being unemployed due to jobs severely lacking. It would have a be a utilitarian system that is the total opposite of capitalism where the fruits of labor from human and machine contribute to the greater good of society in keeping everyone fed and housed. This is how it works in science fiction movies like Star Trek where everyone is taken care of and everyone's efforts are in concert (this is where problems can develop) to the needs of the greater whole. A communist military/police state is exactly were we are headed just as the science fiction movies often suggested, I believe. Science fiction is a self-fulfilling prophecy which is what always drew my interests to watch that garbage. It's not good if it becomes real, but that's what makes it interesting.
The robot drones are coming and you will ask, "Is she real? man, she looks like a perfect runway hottie." I say, "Well, she looks real, hey, I got an idea, lets go talk to her and find out." And as time passes, it will become even harder to depict who is real as many real humans will become to act mechanistic, desensitized, and brain washed into thinking the purpose to live is to serve the greater good of our society without the concept of individualism. That's a shame if we become this, but it's inevitable as this is the most efficient system for a mass population relying on technology to survive on an Earth depleted of natural resources that is a dying world due to the environmental destruction we did during the capitalism era. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
vox
Joined: 13 Feb 2005
Location: Jeollabukdo
|
| Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2007 9:32 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| sojourner1 wrote: |
I have been suspecting this all along for real after seeing Androids like EveR-1 and HUBO in Korea and videos of several others in Japan. Futurists, this is the prelude.
These things are still at a level that the PC was in the 1980's, but they will become technological marvels in the coming next decade and possibly beyond. There are real ethical dilemmas of a robot serviced society as we are on the brink of having just that which could become even a larger social issue than the ongoing ethical debate of stem cells and cloning.
My concern in having functional service and even knowledge worker bots is it will depersonalize, desensitize, and dehumanize us to be drones while the job markets wouldn't yield much for young adults. While I don't believe in taking away our liberties and civil rights, the only way I believe to make a robot society work is to have a communist/military/police state system where everyone is assigned a place to live and work within society so that people are not left out in the cold being unemployed due to jobs severely lacking. It would have a be a utilitarian system that is the total opposite of capitalism where the fruits of labor from human and machine contribute to the greater good of society in keeping everyone fed and housed. This is how it works in science fiction movies like Star Trek where everyone is taken care of and everyone's efforts are in concert (this is where problems can develop) to the needs of the greater whole. A communist military/police state is exactly were we are headed just as the science fiction movies often suggested, I believe. Science fiction is a self-fulfilling prophecy which is what always drew my interests to watch that garbage. It's not good if it becomes real, but that's what makes it interesting.
The robot drones are coming and you will ask, "Is she real? man, she looks like a perfect runway hottie." I say, "Well, she looks real, hey, I got an idea, lets go talk to her and find out." And as time passes, it will become even harder to depict who is real as many real humans will become to act mechanistic, desensitized, and brain washed into thinking the purpose to live is to serve the greater good of our society without the concept of individualism. That's a shame if we become this, but it's inevitable as this is the most efficient system for a mass population relying on technology to survive on an Earth depleted of natural resources that is a dying world due to the environmental destruction we did during the capitalism era. |
Well you could say this heralds the disaster of the ESL industry (I know you didn't) but when you come down to it, the ESL industry is still premised on the foundation that international communication will bring more business. For that communication to do that, they still have to get along and interact with other real individuals and complex social dynamics like charisma, argument, evaluating bargaining items in a complex negotiation, that all takes real human interaction that can't be replicated by a robot. Robots are still just machines, even the ones that have to make high-level A.I. decisions. How could a robot walk into a negotiating room, evaluate the pace of a negotiation proceeding for a land acquisition for a factory, determine that things aren't going so well, and then decide to pull out the story on this morning's news to bring a novel factor to the table that was incalculable 8 hours before (e.g. the collapse of a company or a natural disaster)? Much less, how would it be able to make a value about it that relates to business?
While these things, if mass-produced, could take care of some fairly routine stuff like teaching ABCs 12 different ways according to displayed aptitudes, for example (and maybe they should) I don't see how the presence of language robots will pose any danger to the need for creativity that a human mind can provide. In fact, their presence may accentuate that need. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
matthews_world
Joined: 15 Feb 2003
|
| Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2007 10:30 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| I wonder who takes her home at night? *shudders* |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
seoulsucker
Joined: 05 Mar 2006
Location: The Land of the Hesitant Cutoff
|
| Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2007 4:15 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| I, for one, welcome our new robot ESL overlords. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
