South Korea Trials Robots in Kindergartens to Prepare Children for a High-Tech Future

In Seoul, the capital of South Korea, trials have begun of pint-sized robots as teaching aids in kindergartens. The pilot project is intended, according to city authorities, to help prepare the next generation for a high-tech future. 

The Alpha Mini robot stands just 24.5 cm tall and can dance, sing, tell stories and even teach kung fu moves, so children can imitate its push-ups and single-leg balancing.

"Robots help develop children's creativity," said teacher Ben Seo Yeon, speaking to France-Presse agency during a visit to the bright, lively Maru kindergarten in Seoul. The robot's eyes blink and wink, and its pupils take the shape of a heart during conversation. Using a camera on its helmet, it takes photos that are instantly sent to a connected viewing device.

"In the future, it will be very important to know how to manage artificial intelligence and related tools," Han Dong Sog from the Seoul city government's childcare department told France-Presse.

The robots are being tested in 300 nurseries and childcare centres in Seoul, and the government recommends the program for children aged three to five. "We believe this experience in kindergartens will have a lasting effect throughout their youth and into adulthood," Han says.

Alpha Mini has become part of the daily schedule for a group of four- and five-year-olds at Maru, and its ability to "fart" on command is a highlight of any game. "When I tell it to sing, it sings well. I tell it to dance, and we dance together," said five-year-old Lee Ga Yoon.

Alpha Mini is highly portable, offering fun interactions and many expressions and functions, including voice interaction, 4G LTE network connectivity, face recognition and object recognition. 

With 14 servo motors, the robot can move flexibly, dance, demonstrate kung fu moves and get up after falls, while its charming LCD eyes can display emotions and feelings, so Alpha Mini feels like a real part of the family.

UBTECH Robotics, the maker of Alpha Mini, says of the robot: "Your intelligent companion robot is already here, ready to make friends, entertain, teach and communicate in a wide range of scenarios." 

The Alpha Mini educational robot is by no means a simple toy, as it can use AI to communicate, move, and recognize faces and objects. It will become an indispensable assistant in a variety of teaching activities, which is why it was chosen for kindergartens. 

The robot can conduct individual lessons for single students or small groups. Because it is programmable, it can be used to run a variety of lessons in writing, reading, history and math. In addition, students can help program the robot to learn more about mechanics and computer science.

The Alpha Mini educational humanoid robot was designed for natural and intuitive interaction. For example, it has a face recognition system that allows it to smoothly follow the person it is currently interacting with. Thanks to its human-like behavior and facial expressions (it can even sneeze!), children will quickly and easily get close to it. Alpha Mini is much more than just a robot; it will quickly become a loyal helper for students.

The Alpha Mini educational humanoid robot is fully programmable. This means its actions can be configured depending on the lessons and exercises you want to present to your students. To do this, it is equipped with ROSA, an open platform built on the Android SDK. With ROSA, you can easily add apps and documents of your choice, allowing Alpha Mini to then assist the teacher during classes. 

Being able to add various teaching materials in this way lets you cover different subjects. Students have access to a range of learning resources and can even learn how to program Alpha Mini to better understand robotics. It is programmed using a Scratch-style block interface, can detect obstacles with its infrared sensor, and recognizes 75 voice commands in English.

Technical specifications of the robot:

• HD camera
• 16 degrees of freedom
• dual IPS LCD screen
• 14 servo motors
• three sensors
• gyroscope
• four microphones
• stereo sound
• programming on Windows/iOS and Android PCs
• communication kit

The robot's human-like movement provides flexibility with a dynamic balancing system. Integrated with 4G voice communication and text-to-speech capabilities, the robot makes an excellent conversation partner that can become a real friend for a child. 

In addition, the humanoid robot is a revolutionary educational platform for learning open-source robot programming, suitable for high school students and vocational and university students. These tasks require specialized educational software, which is included in the kit.