Military school instructors build robots that can dance and sing and teach English

Bonbon - a robot 1.27m tall and weighing 40kg of a group of instructors at the Military Technical Academy can support teaching English, communication and singing and dancing to elementary school students.

Intelligent humanoid robot supporting English teaching for elementary school students (Bonbon) is a research topic under the National Key Science and Technology Program until 2025.

The topic was proposed by the Military Technical Academy and selected for implementation by the Ministry of Science and Technology. To date, the National Council of Science and Technology has accepted and approved. The product was granted a Useful Solution Patent by the Intellectual Property Office in October 2023.

"We are happy with the success of the project ," said Dr. Le Dinh Son, project leader.

According to him, the product shows that domestic scientists can master robot design techniques and technology; Develop fundamental software technology, and build and solve artificial intelligence problems in sound, image and natural language processing.

Robot making process of a group of lecturers at the Military Technical Academy. (Photo: Provided by the Academy)

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

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

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

The problem from the beginning is to create a robot that can behave and interact with humans by speech, eye expressions, or physical gestures through intelligent processing modules.

The main problem is designing and manufacturing a hardware system to create a robot with a friendly, human-like appearance, suitable for elementary school children. In addition, the robot can move flexibly fully automatically or via remote manual control.

Regarding software, the robot must meet the requirements for the ability to speak, move, and handle integrated problems based on the application of artificial intelligence in recognizing images, sounds, gestures and activities. .

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

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

Dr. Le Dinh Son shares about Bonbon robot. (Photo: Minh Minh).

The group focused on researching in the above direction for about two years. There were times when we had to calculate every little detail, such as how to make sure the robot arm does not cause unsafety to students, or accurately identify student speech. born with different voices. Recognizing the gestures of the interacting person 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 steps of movement, of which the arms have 6 steps, each hand has 3 steps and the head has 3 steps. The lower body is a mobile module, with 3 multi-directional wheels for the robot to move freely on a horizontal plane.

"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, follow the teacher's requests such as presenting content, teaching and practicing vocabulary, teaching new sentence structures, freely communicating about a certain topic or dancing. sing.

For example, if a student asks "Who is Messi" , the robot will answer in English: "That is a famous football player from Argentina".

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

Robot Bonbon. (Photo: Minh Minh).

In addition to design and manufacturing, the research team has contacted elementary school teachers and foreigners to support digitizing documents, creating scripts for lectures, and activities during class sessions. To have voice data suitable for children, they also find and ask 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 ," Mr. Son said.

After Covid-19, the research team brought the Bonbon robot to some primary schools in Hanoi and Bac Kan to test and get feedback to improve the product.

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

School representatives assessed that the robot could add new utilities and learning materials with a standard native English accent.

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

Bonbon robot dances, sings and answers questions. (Video: Minh Minh).

The test results show that the robot meets the set features and technical parameters, according to Mr. Son, which is the motivation for the team to continue researching to improve manipulation ability, intelligence, and features to have can be widely applied.

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