Communications of the ACM
Kids and Robots Learn to Write Together
A new teaching program allows young children to improve their writing skills as they teach a humanoid robot how to write.
Credit: Alain Herzog/EPFL
Young children can use a new program to teach a humanoid robot how to write letters and improve their writing skills at the same time, with the robot serving in the role of a peer who needs to be taught.
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) researchers presented their teaching tool, called CoWriter, this week at the ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction in Portland, OR.
Scientists developed progressive writing algorithms and implemented them on a small robot designed to be likable and interact with children. Using a vast database of handwriting examples, the robot can clumsily draw words on demand, reproducing common errors made by children, and then gradually improve.
The system was well received during testing with children on the technical aspects of the technology, but now the team is looking to study the benefits of the program.
EPFL's Computer-Human Interaction Lab in Learning and Instruction and Learning Algorithms and Systems Laboratory collaborated on the project.
From Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne
View Full Article
Abstracts Copyright © 2015 Information Inc., Bethesda, Maryland, USA
No entries found