Japan unveils storytelling robot
Researchers from Japan's prestigious Waseda University and the Shanghai Jiaotong University in China have jointly developed a robot capable of reading out stories from printed books.
Called 二宮くん or Ninomiyakun, the aluminum-made robot is 1-meter tall and weighs 25kg. It comes with a built-in camera and a computer that can recognize 2,300 Japanese characters (Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji) commonly known to a Japanese elementary school student. A character recognition software is used to translated text into spoken words, which are produced by a voice synthesizer.
Kamada Seiitirou, the professor who co-developed the robot, told the Yomiuri Shimbun that in future, Ninomiyakun will be enhanced to tell stories with emotions. Listen to the robot here:
If robotic researchers get their way, how will the face of storytelling be changed? There are larger questions to think about here as we inch closer toward technological singularity. What does it mean to be human?
I don't know the details about the storytelling robot, but having done storytelling at libraries before, I know that storytelling is not merely "reading aloud" the story from a book. It's also about expression, interaction and how the storyteller handles the comments and queries inserted spontaneously by the children. It would be interesting to see a robot handle spontaneity.
QQ*librarian said...
June 30, 2009 11:36 AM
Interesting story. I personally think robots can never take over humans tasks completely. As QQ*librarian pointed out, even storytelling is not as simple as it seems!
By the way, I'm helping a friend promote a contest, where you can win a years supply of Movie Tickets. It is pretty simple, so might like to give it a try! Here's the link: http://www.infocomm123.sg/games_and_contests#ilikeilink
Danny said...
July 13, 2009 8:00 PM
This would hardly be a replacement for humans. If so, then might as well consider vending machines to be a threat! :)
Ivan Chew said...
November 23, 2009 11:21 PM