The above question, which most of you will probably never have to answer, has already popped in the minds of the parents South Korea. This year some of the primary schools there have begun using robots instead of actual human beings to teach the children English.
Of course, the robots are not self-conscious, nor are they made to look like the Terminator. They are 3.3ft high machines, with a TV instead of a head. They can move, dance and react to the children in front of them. They are, if you like, the beginning of robotized teaching.
The robots, developed the Korea Institute of Science of Technology, are not, however, on their own in the classroom, nor do they act on pre-programmed lines of code. They are, for now, just tools in the hands of the actual teachers.
The robots are controlled remotely all the way from the Philippines. The cameras in front of the actual teachers send the feed to the receivers on the robot, who then displays the face of the teacher on the TV screen.
“Having robots in the classroom makes the students more active in participating, especially shy ones afraid of speaking out to human teachers,” education official Kim Mi-Young explained for the Daily Mail one of the reasons behind using the robots instead of actual people.
Another reason, perhaps more important, is the fact that robots can be used in isolated rural areas, who lack actual teachers.
Google News