Robot that can dance, sing and teach English of military school instructor

Bonbon - a 1.27m tall and 40kg robot of the Military Technical Academy's teaching team can help teach English, communicate and sing and dance with primary school students.

The humanoid intelligent robot that supports teaching English to primary school students (Bonbon) is a research topic under the National Key Science and Technology Program until 2025.

The project was proposed by the Military Technical Academy and selected for implementation by the Ministry of Science and Technology . Up to now, the National Council of Science and Technology has accepted and approved it. The product was granted a Utility Solution Exclusive Certificate by the Department of Intellectual Property in October 2023.

"We are delighted with the success of the project," said Dr. Le Dinh Son, project manager.

According to him, the product shows that domestic scientists can master the techniques and technology of robot design; develop basic software technology, and at the same time build and solve artificial intelligence problems in processing sound, images and natural language.

Military school lecturer invents smart robot to teach English — The process of making robots by a group of lecturers from the Military Technical Academy. Photo: *Provided by the Academy*

Mr. Son said he has long wanted to design and manufacture smart robots based on integrating advanced technologies for application in education.

"Many countries such as Japan, China, and South Korea have introduced robots to support teaching and learning, becoming effective teaching assistants to help children access knowledge through technology. We hope Vietnam will have such robots," Mr. Son shared.

Assigned to deploy from 2020, nearly 20 lecturers from the Military Technical Academy and coordinating units were divided into three groups, in charge of information technology, control and mechanics.

The problem posed from the beginning was to create a robot that could respond and interact with humans using words, eye expressions, or physical gestures through intelligent processing modules.

The main issue is to design and manufacture the hardware system to create a robot with a friendly, human-like appearance, suitable for primary school children. In addition, the robot can move flexibly, completely automatically or through remote manual control.

In terms of software, robots must meet requirements for the ability to speak, move, and handle integrated problems based on the application of artificial intelligence in image, sound, gesture and activity recognition.

The operating system needs to support the stable running of processing algorithms and control programs, especially ensuring real-time synchronization.

"How to make robots talk and move naturally is the goal the team is aiming for," said Mr. Son.

Dr. Le Dinh Son shares about the robot Bonbon. Photo: Minh Minh — Dr. Le Dinh Son shares about the robot Bonbon, March 26. Photo: *Minh Minh*

The team focused on researching in this direction for about two years, sometimes having to calculate every little detail, such as how to make the robot arm not unsafe for students, or accurately recognize students' speech with different tones. Recognizing the gestures of the person interacting so that the robot can respond appropriately is also a difficult problem.

As a result, the team created a robot about 1.27m tall and weighing 40kg. The upper body resembles a human with 21 levels of movement, including 6 arms, 3 hands, and 3 heads. The lower body is a mobile module with 3 omnidirectional wheels for the robot to move freely on a horizontal plane.

"The software modules that control robot movements are developed mainly based on the robot operating system (ROS), integrating and managing resources quite flexibly as well as adjusting functional blocks," Mr. Son shared.

Bonbon can perform teaching situations, following the teacher's requests such as presenting content, teaching and practicing vocabulary, teaching new sentence structures, communicating freely on a certain topic or singing and dancing.

For example, if a student asks "Who is Messi", the robot will reply in English: "He is a famous Argentine football player".

In addition, Bonbon can raise debate issues, organize games, and cheer when students do right or wrong.

Robot Bonbon dancing Baby Shark. Photo: Minh Minh — Bonbon Robot. Photo: *Minh Minh*

In addition to design and manufacturing, the research team contacted elementary school teachers and foreigners to help digitize documents, create scripts for lectures and activities during class... To have voice data suitable for children, they also found and asked Vietnamese students in the US for support.

"This is very difficult and takes a lot of effort. Luckily, the group received enthusiastic support from the teachers," said Mr. Son.

After Covid-19, the research team brought the Bonbon robot to several primary schools in Hanoi and Bac Kan for testing and feedback to improve the product.

At Nghia Tan Primary School, Hanoi, Bonbon robot has supported English teachers in teaching students to sing, play games, teach vocabulary, sentence structure, practice speaking with students...

School representatives said the robot could add new features and learning materials with standard native English accents.

"Both teachers and students are excited about the lessons. Teachers have access to modern technology, students absorb lessons well, and interaction increases. Robots also help students use English to communicate in class," she said.

The test results show that the robot meets the required features and technical parameters, which, according to Mr. Son, is the motivation for the team to continue researching to improve its manipulation ability, intelligence, and features for wide application.

"In general, robots can support services such as reception, tourism, product promotion, answering administrative procedures, and giving instructions. This will be the next research direction," Mr. Son shared.

Duong Tam

Source link