South Korean families are known to spend thousands of dollars a year so that their children can learn English from private academies. Most of these schools hire teachers from abroad who are native English speakers.
But a team of engineers have created a new robot that they hope will eventually replace these expensive foreign instructors. The robot is named Engkey, and it is already being tested in a classroom at the Hagjeong Primary School in Daegu. Engkey is an egg-shaped robot that wheels around in front of the class of six fourth-grade students, asking them to repeat English phrases and teaching them children's songs in English. Engkey is connected via teleconference to the Philippines, where a teacher conducts the class through a monitor. It is her voice that speaks to the class, although the image on Engkey's LCD panel head is of a Caucasian woman.