Engkey: Tele-education robot

Abstract

In this paper, we introduce a new form of an English education system that utilizes a teleoperated robot controlled by a native human teacher in a remote site. By providing a unique operation interface that incorporates non-contact vision recognition technologies, a native teacher easily and naturally controls the robot from a distance while providing lectures. Due to its effective representation of a human teacher in a robot, students show great interest on the robot and feel comfortable learning English with the teleoperated robot. In a real field pilot study, the participated elementary students have achieved good improvements on standardized tests after the study, which shows the effectiveness of the teleoperated robot system. ？ 2011 Springer-Verlag.