Trust your child to a robot? · 13 March 06
This Childcare Robot, PaPeRo, is capable of recognizing and verbally communicating with people, sending images via mobile phone, as well as playing games and singing along with others.
- Using voice recognition and synthesizing technologies PaPeRo can converse with people,
- Using image recognition technology PaPeRo can remember and identify people,
- Using 4 touch sensors on its head and 5 around its body PaPeRo can detect hand contact, when the hand is removed, or whether it was patted or hit,
- Using a built-in mobile phone a parent can call PaPeRo and use the TV conferencing feature to watch their child playing or they can talk to their child using PaPeRo’s microphones and speakers,
- PaPeRo can even give a child or childen a quiz.
Are TV’s days of raising our youth numbered? Are tomorrow’s children going to be told they are loved by a piece of plastic rather than a purple dim-witted dinosaur? Will they be taught to count in french by a slick robot rather than a furry trash can living grouch? Will parents be calling home drunk from cocktail parties to spy on their kids using surveillance technology rather than bribing snitchy teenage babysitters? What is this world coming to? Seriously!
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