Kibot: South Korean Robot Reads, Sings and Teaches Toddlers English

[unreal.livejournal.com]

The Kibot, built Korean telecom giant KT Corp. reads, sings, and teaches in multi-languages

A robot designed to teach kids to speak another language won't take no for an answer in any language. If left alone, it starts moving around the house looking for the kids and bugs them to play.

The Kibot is designed to be part tutor and part babysitter for South Korea's hard working parents who are intent on making sure their children grow up bilingual in a country where English has become a prerequisite for admission at prominent private schools.

The Kibot, built Korean telecom giant KT Corp., is perfect for Gina Kim, 36, a working mom who puts in a 12 hours a day and sometimes on Saturday. The grueling work schedule makes it hard for her to spend time with her two toddlers Joy, 4 and Juwon, 1.


For many Korean parents in Gina's tech-savvy generation, a new intelligent robot for toddlers is worth the hefty price of $450.

"We've tried all interactive educational toys, but this one actually initiates interaction both in Korean and in English," said husband Yun Chung, 38, who prides himself as an early adaptor of new technologies.

The foot-tall monkey-faced Kibot reads, sings, and teaches in multi-languages. When left alone for some time it strolls around the house by itself searching for the children and starts conversations with them, and asks to be played with.

Kibot's big breakthrough is that the robot is a wired communicating device, connected through wi-fi at home at all times.

Kibot Bugs Kids to Learn

Its face-to-face video phone function is designed to make it easy enough for toddlers to operate and from the parents' side, the robot could be controlled from a smartphone by calling in.

Unlike other webcams or CCTVs on where the cameras are installed in a fixed place, Kim calls into her Kibot and uses her smartphone as a remote control. She then can move the robot around the house to actually go search for the kids.

"We trust our babysitter, but sometimes it's much better to have someone or something else monitoring my babies. In that sense, this remote feature makes me feel hands on, connected all the time," said Kim.

When she has a few spare moments at the office, Kim can remotely download new interactive games and play with the kids.

Joy can also video call her mother by simply tapping a "mommy" card on Kibot's nose. The cards include data filled with words, books, and songs.

They are equipped with intelligent barcodes which makes it possible for the robot to instantly recognize the message and take action.

"We've adapted this RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology normally used in high-tech systemized warehouses to simple cards so that the user won't have to press multiple complicated buttons to operate," said Kyung-Ho Kim, assistant manager at Korea Telecom's Service of International Protocol division.

Plenty of educational programs are wirelessly downloadable and there's no synchronizing involved.

All this is possible because 98 percent of Korean homes have broadband access, which puts South Korea on top of the world's most wired countries list.

The cutting-edge robot is priced at 485,000 won (US $450) with a monthly service fee of 7,000 won (USD $6.5).

Source: abcnews

Comments

[lapetite-indigo.livejournal.com]

mte... terminator jr. is playing with your kids while you're at work

[utagaki.livejournal.com]

When left alone for some time it strolls around the house by itself searching for the children and starts conversations with them, and asks to be played with.

Creepy tbh.

Joy can also video call her mother by simply tapping a "mommy" card on Kibot's nose.

That is pretty cool though.

But if these things can be hacked into, then burglars/nosy people are going to have a field day.

[hitsujiga.livejournal.com]

ugh mte about the hackers/burglars. one babysitter and little kids probably won't be enough to keep them from breaking into the house either...

[lapetite-indigo.livejournal.com]

When left alone for some time it strolls around the house by itself searching for the children and starts conversations with them, and asks to be played with.

because that's not creepy at all...

[chunsakuma.livejournal.com]

LOL YES.

[prlsb4swiine.livejournal.com]

tbh, if I was babysitting them I would probably think someone broke in and beat the thing with a bat.

[katzsong.livejournal.com]

It could be the kid themselves who beat it with a bat XD there goes $450 ~whistles~

[aeries-amethyst.livejournal.com]

I wonder if I can get one of these to teach me Korean. . . O_____o

[mizukigirl.livejournal.com]

It's creepy. I wonder if the english being taught by that robot is correct.

[prlsb4swiine.livejournal.com]

lol come to think of it probably not

[mizukigirl.livejournal.com]

That's not going to help the babies when they get older then xD

[chunsakuma.livejournal.com]

Ngl, the most interesting part of the article for me is that one of the babies is named Kim Juwon.

[lexafalu.livejournal.com]

Not necessarily. Children usually take their father's last name and this Mrs. Kim is married to a Mr. Yun Chung.

[chunsakuma.livejournal.com]

Waaaaaaaaah, just let me have my fun! lol.

[katzsong.livejournal.com]

When left alone for some time it strolls around the house by itself searching for the children and starts conversations with them, and asks to be played with

Yikes! It's creepy, chucky-big brother-ish-style. Annoying. For now, I think it's a rip-off.

What's next? iRobot era?

[kamakazza.livejournal.com]

Totally thought it was called The Killbot