Say ‘How do you do’ to Mike and Michelle, face-to-face tutors for English learners. They'll correct your grammar, answer questions, converse on a variety of topics, be there 24/7, and won't charge a dime. And they're doing very well, thank-you. The on-screen ‘English Tutor’ interactive robots and their creator (from Pasadena City College), are heading to England's Exeter University in October as one of four finalists in the 2011 Loebner Prize for Artificial Intelligence.
Over the years, the program has grown more sophisticated, now with robots able to chat on 25 topics in 2,000 available conversations. The robots can detect the 800 most common errors learning English-speakers make, Lee said, and know all the irregular verbs, provide different tenses, explain grammatical terms and give advice on how to learn English. Users still have to type in their questions, rather than speak, although he said users with speech recognition software can talk into the microphone.
Over the years, the program has grown more sophisticated, now with robots able to chat on 25 topics in 2,000 available conversations. The robots can detect the 800 most common errors learning English-speakers make, Lee said, and know all the irregular verbs, provide different tenses, explain grammatical terms and give advice on how to learn English. Users still have to type in their questions, rather than speak, although he said users with speech recognition software can talk into the microphone.
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