Some kids may joke that their teachers are so weird, they must be from another planet.
For some elementary school kids in Japan, they wouldn't be too far off.
Saya is a robot and she/it is teaching this elementary school class.
Here's a really creepy video of the... thing in action:
(For a less jokey take on the story, check out this video from MSNBC.)
Here's the thing. I get that technology can make our lives easier. (Freudian slip: I typed "teachnology" my mistake, which I thought wasn't a word but I guess it is, at least according to Google.) But teachers shouldn't be robots. Or is that robots shouldn't be teachers? Certain jobs would be okay I suppose, although in an economy like this one, any job taken away from humans seems like a bad thing. But teachers? Really? Doesn't that imply that the job is nothing more than a glorified baby sitter?
According to the embedded video, which is a bit cheeky, the purpose of the TeachBot 9000 (my name, not theirs) is to "get kids excited about technology." The MSNBC clip says that Saya started out "her life" as a "robot receptionist" and that she/it "isn't meant to take jobs away from real teachers, but could fill in in a pinch for understaffed schools." They say that she 'bot has the kids "undivided attention." Frankly, I think they look a little scared.
Would you want your children to be taught -- or whatever that thing is doing -- by a robot?
Source: Gizmodo via Telegraph, MSNBC
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