韓國:機器人老師受學生熱捧
Robot teachers -- who never get angry or make sarcastic remarks -- have been a hit with pupils during a pilot project in some South Korean schools, a government report said Thursday.
Elementary school children responded favourably to the robotic teachers, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said, citing a survey by educational researchers.
English-teaching robots were sent to three provincial schools for eight weeks starting in late December.
And programmable electronic devices resembling robots, which teach maths, science and art, were used in 10 Seoul schools for five weeks from November.
The researchers found that the English-teaching robots helped raise interest in the language and boosted the confidence of students.
"Tele-presence" robots are controlled remotely by an English teacher and are equipped with a microphone and video camera. Autonomous units use voice-recognition software to interact with children.
The government has expressed interest in robots to give rural school children more learning opportunities.
"The machines spurred creativity and had a positive influence on the attitude of students," a ministry official told Yonhap news agency.
Officials in charge of the project are working to improve the quality of robot teaching and iron out glitches before any decision to expand their use.
韓國政府上週四發佈一份報告稱，該國在其部分學校試行的機器人老師受到學生的青睞。這些老師從不會生氣，也不會數落學生。
韓國知識經濟部援引教育研究人員開展的一項調查說，學生們對機器人老師的反應很好。
去年12月底，一批機器人英語老師被“派”往韓國三所省立學校進行爲期八週的授課。
去年11月份，一批教授數學、自然科學和藝術課程的可編程機器人在韓國首爾的十所學校進行爲期五週的教學。
研究人員發現，機器人英語老師有助於提高學生學習語言的興趣，並增強了他們的自信心。
這些“遠距”機器人由一名英文老師遠程遙控，配備有麥克風和攝像機。而機器人本身則通過聲音識別軟件與學生們進行互動交流。
韓國政府表示將通過推廣機器人教學項目爲農村地區的孩子提供更多的學習機會。
知識經濟部的一名官員在接受韓國聯合通訊社的採訪時說：“機器人老師能激發學生的創造力，並能對學生的學習態度產生積極影響。”
負責這一項目的官員們正努力改進機器人的教學質量，並在決定推廣使用前解決一些小問題。
Vocabulary:
tele-presence: the remote operation of a robotic system with the aid of an immersive human interface 遠程呈現，遙現
iron out: settle or put right 消除（He was determined to iron out the difficulties. 他決心解決困難。）
glitch: a small problem or fault that stops something working successfully 小故障；小毛病；小差錯
