Robots smile in calassrooms（教室でロボットが微笑む!?）

Japanese robotics scientists find new role for automation

Tokyo: This robot teacher calls roll, smile and scolds, drawing laughter from students with her eerily lifelike face. But the Japanese developer says it is not just about to replace human instructors.
Unlike more mechanical-looking robots like Honda's Aimo, the robot teacher, called Saya, can express six basic emotion ---surprise, fear, disgust, anger, happiness, sadness --- because its rubber skin is being pulled from the back with motors and wiring around the eyes and the mouth.
In a demonstration, the robot's mouth popped open, its eyes widened and eyebrows arched to appear surprised. Saya pulled back on it's lips to make a smile, and said smile pre-programed phrases such as "Thank you", while its lips moved, to express pleasure.
"Robots that look human tend to be a big hit with young children and the elderly," Hiroshi Kobayashi, Tokyo University of Science professor and Saya's developer, said on Wednesday. "Children even start crying when they are scolded"
First developed as a receptionist robot in 2004, Saya was tested in a real Tokyo classroom earlier this year with a handful of fifth and sixth graders, although it still can not do much more than call roll and shout orders like "Be quiet".
The children had great fun, Mr.Kobayashi recalled, tickled when it called out their names. Still, it is just remote controlled by a human watching the interaction through cameras, he said.
Japan and other nations hope robots will provide a solution for their growing labour shortage problem as populations age. But scientists express concern about using a machine to take care of children and the elderly.
Ronald C. Arkin, Professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and more research in human-robot interaction is needed before overly relying on robots.
"Simply turning out grandparents over to teams of robots abrogates our society's responsibility to each other, and encourages a loss of touch with reality for this already mentally and physically challenged population," he said.
Noel Sharkey, robotics expert and Professor as the University of Sheffield, believes robots can serve as an educational aid in inspiring interest in science, but they can not replace humans.
"It would be delusional to think that such robots could replace a human teacher," he said.
Professor Sharkey added: "Leading scientists, engineers and mathematicians, almost without exception, talk about that one teacher who inspired them. A robot can not be that kind of inspirational role model"-AP (３月１２日インドの新聞　　ＴＨＥ　ＨＩＮＤＵ　より）

僕の一言
インドでロボットが先生をするようになったら・・・・案外、人より良いかも（笑い）。人にもよるが、ここインドに来ていろいろな先生（英語、ＩＴ）の元で勉強したが、本当に時間にルーズ、ドタキャンあり、授業中に就職活動、あくび、早退、授業放棄・・・・中にはいい先生もいますが。
でも、先生という名のつく職種で働く人は、日本でもそうだかここインドでも威張りまくっている人が多い！
ここインドでは日本語教師！彼等ははせっかくすばらしい仕事をしているのだから、もう少し自覚をもってほしいものです。（笑い）　本当に偉くないのに偉そうな人が先生には多いと思います。