Unsure robots make better teachers than know-alls

[Nipuna]

THE best way to learn is to teach. That old maxim has been put to the test by a classroom robot that helps Japanese children learn English.

Shizuko Matsuzoe and Fumihide Tanaka at the University of Tsukuba, Japan, observed 19 children aged between 4 and 8 interacting with a humanoid robot. The children took part in a learning game in which they had to draw the shape corresponding to English words such as "circle", "square", "crescent" and "heart".

From a room next to the classroom, the researchers operated a French-built Nao robot so that it appeared weak and feeble, and encouraged the children to take on the role of carers. The robot also either behaved as an instructor, drawing the correct shape for the child, or made mistakes and acted as if it didn't know the answer.

When the robot got a shape wrong, the child could "teach" the robot how to draw it by guiding its hand. The robot then either "learned" the English word for that shape or continued to make errors.

Matsuzoe and Tanaka found that the children did best when the robot appeared to learn from them. This also made the children more likely to want to continue learning with the robot. They will present their results at the Ro-Man conference in Paris this month.