The South Korean capital has started trialing pint-sized robots as teaching aids in kindergartens — a pilot project the Seoul City Government said would help prepare the next generation for a high-tech future.
The “Alpha Mini” robot is just 24.5cm tall and can dance, lead sing-a-longs, recite stories and even teach martial arts moves, as children mimic its pushups and one-legged balances.
“The robots help with the kids’ creativity,” teacher Byun Seo-yeon told Agence France-Presse during a visit to the bright and busy Maru nursery in Seoul.
Photo: AFP
The robot’s eyes wink and blink — and its pupils become heart-shaped during conversation.
With a camera on its helmet, it takes photographs that are instantly sent to a tablet for viewing.
“In the future, knowing how to manage AI [artificial intelligence] and related tools will be very important,” said Han Dong-seog, an official at the city government’s childcare division.
The robots are trialed in 300 Seoul nurseries and childcare centers, with the government recommending the program for children aged three to five.
“We believe having this experience in nursery schools will have a lasting effect throughout their youth and as adults,” Han said.
The Alpha Mini has been adopted as part of a daily schedule for the class of four to five-year-old students at Maru, with its ability to “fart” on command being a highlight during playtime.
“When I tell it to sing, it sings well. I tell it to dance and we dance together,” five-year-old Lee Ga-yoon said.
Thousands gathered across New Zealand yesterday to celebrate the signing of the country’s founding document and some called for an end to government policies that critics say erode the rights promised to the indigenous Maori population. As the sun rose on the dawn service at Waitangi where the Treaty of Waitangi was first signed between the British Crown and Maori chiefs in 1840, some community leaders called on the government to honor promises made 185 years ago. The call was repeated at peaceful rallies that drew several hundred people later in the day. “This government is attacking tangata whenua [indigenous people] on all
A colossal explosion in the sky, unleashing energy hundreds of times greater than the Hiroshima bomb. A blinding flash nearly as bright as the sun. Shockwaves powerful enough to flatten everything for miles. It might sound apocalyptic, but a newly detected asteroid nearly the size of a football field now has a greater than 1 percent chance of colliding with Earth in about eight years. Such an impact has the potential for city-level devastation, depending on where it strikes. Scientists are not panicking yet, but they are watching closely. “At this point, it’s: ‘Let’s pay a lot of attention, let’s
UNDAUNTED: Panama would not renew an agreement to participate in Beijing’s Belt and Road project, its president said, proposing technical-level talks with the US US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday threatened action against Panama without immediate changes to reduce Chinese influence on the canal, but the country’s leader insisted he was not afraid of a US invasion and offered talks. On his first trip overseas as the top US diplomat, Rubio took a guided tour of the canal, accompanied by its Panamanian administrator as a South Korean-affiliated oil tanker and Marshall Islands-flagged cargo ship passed through the vital link between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. However, Rubio was said to have had a firmer message in private, telling Panama that US President Donald Trump
The administration of US President Donald Trump has appointed to serve as the top public diplomacy official a former speech writer for Trump with a history of doubts over US foreign policy toward Taiwan and inflammatory comments on women and minorities, at one point saying that "competent white men must be in charge." Darren Beattie has been named the acting undersecretary for public diplomacy and public affairs, a senior US Department of State official said, a role that determines the tone of the US' public messaging in the world. Beattie requires US Senate confirmation to serve on a permanent basis. "Thanks to