My teacher is a robot!

South korea schools are lack of English teachers, so they used to hire foreign teachers, but korean people don't trust them because they accuse foreigners of being promiscuous (They even have to take and AIDS test if they want to enter the country) as a solution for this issue, Korea has invented robot teachers called Engkeys.
Engkeys are 3-foot tall egg-shaped devices developed by Korea Institute of Science of Technology (KIST) which display an occidental woman face on a screen. This robot is controlled  by English teachers in the Philippines, who can observe the class from another place and students will hear them and the robot will even  copy teachers' reaction, thanks to cameras watching his or her face. Besides reproducing what the teacher is saying, these machines have software programs that allow them play educational games and sing songs with the kids, as we can see in the video:

Engkeys have been well received by the children, who have declared that they feel more confident talking with a robot than with a present teacher and they feel more curious to learn. Obviously authorities have been pleased with this invention too, because hiring a long distance teacher is much cheaper than bring him/her to the country.
This is definitely a good invention, especially because there is still a human controlling it, but it is at the same time a tool to make discrimination even bigger.


What do you think about this? would you like to have a talking robot in the classroom instead of a real person?

A new kind of specie?

I was reading Frankenstein and then it made me think about what a great visionary Mary Shelley was.She challenged the limits of imagination and put a spotlight on the moral, ethical and religious implications of science, when she decided to put a pen to paper and create a new human being, using the power of electricity and the parts of the body of a dead man to finally bring a lifeless entity to life. No one could imagine in the 18th century that Shelley’s ideas would continue to resound within our present age.

Nowadays scientists are the new Dr.Frankensteins of our century. The ideas of an accelerated increment of efficient in medicine, industries, companies and any other field that can produce and facilitate our existence, besides the attempts to create life, are issues that we can see clearly represented in the creation of robots. Initially they were used for repetitive functions, then industries realized that using robots saved more money than using people to work in certain tasks,and from that moment on with technological advances, a big industry started to develop  and more complex and sophisticated kind of robots were created. Nowadays there are many types with different functions; military robots, mining robots, nanorobots, telerobots, space robots, even robotic prostheses, etc and everyday scientists are trying to perfectionate humanoid robots to look like us and to imitate our behavior.

On the other hand, as this technology is making a breakthrough, ethical and moral issues are taking a prominent role and making us reflect on the role of science in technology, evolution and human progress. We can’t deny that robots can make our life easier, but which are going to be the limits of science and technology? are they trying to create a super man? Is there going to be a robotic war?  Are we going to use robotic organs to be stronger, smarter and richer?  is this the new social gap between poor people and rich ones? Are they going to be a new kind of species in our planet? What  do you think?

How far have robots come?

    What images go to your mind when you think about robots? Some people view robots as friendly - as nice partners or helpmates. Others view them as a threat - machines with superior intelligence and abilities, maybe one day replacing humankind (like the movies always show). Still, to many others, robots are more the fare of science fiction than of real life. Today's world is full with robots; in fact, there are almost one million industrial robots in service worldwide, and of these almost half exist in Asia (Japan, China, Korea). So, I wonder myself, why is there such demand?

    Imagine a worker who is always on the job, who never complains, and who can work hard 24 hours a day, all days of the week. Well, industrial robots are taking the role of  a host of automative, electrical, and household items. Robots live up their name, which comes from the Czech word robota, meaning "forced labor."  Unlike humans, robots are more efficient, because they are programmed to execute a specific action. Yes, robots are doing what the man is not doing!

    Now, robots are more equipped with such things as voice-recognition software, gyroscopes, wireless data communication, and a range of sensors including those for heat, force, ultrasound, chemicals, radiation, etc. More powerful and versatile than ever, robots are performing tasks that were viewed as imposible in the past.

    Nevertheless, are robots capable of making us happy, or making our lives easier?  In time, technology has been developed and how far robots progress remains to be seen. But, is the human able to create a humanoid? We already saw what science and technology have done to create artefacts that work their way into our lives... Is it really possible to create a robot resembling a human, imitating man's characteristics, feelings, and behaviours? How far have technology and science come? Is there any limits for them?

Here are some few examples of robots:

-->   A pharmacy robot with mechanical arms retrieves and dispenses medication within seconds in a hospital in UK.






--> Elderly patients in Japan take  turns stroking a cute, furry  robotic baby seal. It is use as a  therapy and companionship.

--> A robot with three arms stands over a patient.







--> Just press a button, and a disk-shaped robot goes to work  vacuuming your floors.