The National Science Foundation has recently committed $10 million to building robots that will influence children to make the right kind of decisions. The government has already spent $2.15 million on the project, which is slated to be ongoing for the next five years. Yale University has been placed in charge of carrying out the project.
The child companion robots are expected to assist little ones in the learning of English. They will also be programmed to encourage their children to eat healthy and get plenty of exercise. According to a news release by Yale University, as reported by The Washington Free Beacon, the robots will help children “learn to read, appreciate physical fitness, overcome cognitive disabilities, and perform physical exercises.”
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Those involved in the project dream of the day when the robots can be removed from their laboratory and start getting some real-world use in schools and homes. In an official statement from the grant, it stated, “The need for this technology is driven by critical societal problems that require sustained, personalized support that supplements the efforts of educators, parents, and clinicians.”
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By the end of the five year project, developers hope the robots will be able to advise long-term educational goals for children, as well as grow and develop as the children using them do. Brian Scassellati, a computer science professor at Yale, explained, “Just like a good personal trainer, we want the robots to be able to guide the child toward a behavior that we desire.”
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