In a new EU
project, Bielefeld researchers are investigating how the robot Nao
can help children
learn a language. Photo: CITEC/Bielefeld University.
(December 22, 2015) Researchers at Bielefeld University plan
to use the humanoid robot ‘Nao’ for language training
According to the Federal Statistical Office, one-third of
children under the age of five in Germany come from immigrant families. Could
technical assistants be used to help prepare immigrant children for school and
teach them the new language? L2TOR, the new project financed by the European
Union, is researching that very question. The project will launch in January
2016 and will run for three years. One research group at the Cluster of
Excellence Cognitive Interaction Technology (CITEC) of Bielefeld University
wants to provide tutoring systems with Tablet-PCs and robots that can assist in
language learning. To do this, researchers are developing modules that
recognize a child’s language abilities and motivation so that the robot can
react individually to each child.
Computer scientists, educators, and linguists are working
together on this project in a consortium of five universities and two
companies. Plymouth University in Great Britain is coordinating the research.
The abbreviation L2TOR (pronounced ‘el tutor’) stands for ‘Second Language
Tutoring Using Social Robots.’ “We are investigating how interactive robots can
be used to help teach children between the ages of 4 to 6 a second language,”
says Professor Dr. Stefan Kopp, who heads the research group Social Cognitive
Systems, which belongs to the Faculty of Technology and is part of CITEC. “We
are working to provide children with the language abilities that they need for
school.”