Are Robots Soon Going to Replace Teachers?

In the 1950s, science fiction writer Isaac Asimov spoke about robots working on most tasks that humans do. Artificial intelligence and machine learning have made these ideas come true. The field of robotics has been growing in leaps and bounds from its conception. Initially, the idea of robots being helpers at home, housekeepers, attenders and even waiters in hotels become a reality. Now, robots are being used for teaching also!

At the Indus International School in Bengaluru, Eagle 2.0, a humanoid robot assists teachers in the classroom. Eagle 2.0 is an advanced android that is capable of two-way interaction. It means that “she” the robot, can ask questions and even wait for the children to answer and responds to the answers that she gets. However, she doesn’t handle the class alone. A qualified teacher still stays in the classroom monitoring the lesson.

While talking about Eagle 2.0, the CEO of Indus Trust, Lt Gen Arjun Ray says, “It is a collaborative learning model that we have in place. In today’s classroom, a teacher spends 90% of the time preparing and delivering the content that a search engine like Google can provide. She has no time for the child, who is just considered an empty vessel that can be filled with any content. With eh humanoid robot taking over the role of delivering content, the teacher can teach what Google can’t. She mentors kids, teaches them how to learn, provides emotional support and ignites the entrepreneurial mindset.”

The best part of this humanoid robot is that it has been completely designed by an in-house team of graphic designers, programmers and teachers.

Will the introduction of humanoid teachers change the landscape of education? Will it bring in the necessary change in the education system and how will it help in effective learning? We need to wait for the pilot project to complete to understand its effects.