You want little Junior to speak English? Why not buy him a robot friend to teach him? Talkbo is the invention from PopSand Robotics in Hong Kong ready to help.
“We know that children who are learning English need someone to practise speaking with them, but often there are no English speakers at home,” said company founder Dr Jeff Cheng. “So, our robot combines the increasingly mature voice-interaction technology with artificial intelligence (AI) to help children practise English conversations and letters, and enable them to listen to interesting English stories in the classroom and at home.”
Talkbo can even interpret English words that are incomplete or mispronounced and correct them to aid children’s learning. Choose between an English or American accent, or switch to Japanese, Mandarin or German. He (or she, you decide!) interacts with a child to keep them interested and has different learning modes, such as Daily Chat, Basic English, Phonics and Primary School. The robot costs approx US$420 (£300) or there’s a mini version for approx US$60 (£45).
