INTRODUCE

In the past few years, a lot of efforts have been made to improve human learning and working performance by using robots. Since their invention, robots have been developed to fulfill purposes and needs, quite similar to personal computers in the early days. With the development of technology and the reduction of costs, in the not too distant future, one of the advanced technologies that will be used in various social, therapeutic, cultural, and educational fields such as “teaching and learning English” will be a robot. Humanoid robots will soon receive more attention as a tool to support language teaching for students in schools around the globe.

New applications of robotics in the form of social assistance have been observed and explored as teaching assistants in a variety of arts and science courses. Since robots tend to attract the attention of students, they have been used as effective assistants in language teaching. This and many other examples make it clear that the application of robots is no longer limited to traditional engineering departments or manufacturing industries, but many socially important fields.

Robots are and are gradually becoming a useful part of education with a variety of abilities ranging from the ability to perceive people and their environment to the ability to reason and rationalize situations. These robots are also equipped with the ability to interact and, equally importantly, have a physical presence. The humanoid robot, with a human-like appearance and added interoperability. That is the key to making language learning more enjoyable for students.

PROPOSED METHODS

2.1. Robots to help teach foreign languages

In countries where English is considered a foreign language, various methods are being used to expose learners to the real environment. Direct collaboration with native speakers has been proven to be the most effective way of teaching. However, in the absence of native speakers, using computers or mobile apps in the classroom is the second-best option. But the limitations of computers and mobile systems in engaging students and providing an interactive environment, other technologies were considered. Among the fastest-growing technologies that are beneficial in the language learning process is the use of robots. While the idea is to create a variety of examples for each word to make it appealing to learners, it is also a difficult task for teachers. They often lack the time needed to generate meaningful examples for long vocabulary lists.

English in general and English for electrical engineering taught at universities are not attractive to students. By using a robot as a teaching assistant, teachers can teach vocabulary in new ways, using pre-programmed humanoid robots to reinforce the vocabulary lessons they have students learn in the classroom.  But this robot will not replace teachers in the field of teaching vocabulary, but support and supplement their lessons and reinforce the material being learned by repeated practice depending on the number of words stored in the robot's memory. Students can choose from available images and ask the robot to interpret the image. From there, the robot not only provides learners with the vocabulary of the selected image but also an example sentence, an audio clip pre-installed in memory about the pronunciation and description of that word. Therefore, those descriptions will help students consolidate their English vocabulary, pronunciation, and listening comprehension.

2.2. Objectives of the study

- Research on the use of robots to improve the quality of English teaching for electrical students at the university. Help students have an interest in learning English in general and specialized English in particular. From there, improving the listening and understanding ability of students majoring in Electrical Engineering.

- Strengthen the culture of science and technology in schools.

2.3. Overview of the humanoid robot NAO (NAO Humanoid Robot)

Figure 1. Robot NAO H25

The NAO Humanoid Robot is a newly integrated, programmable humanoid experimental platform with five kinematic sequences (head, two arms, two legs) developed by Aldebaran Robotics in Paris, France (2004). Table 1 summarizes the specification information of the NAO Humanoid Robot. 

Table 1. Specification of NAO

- Movement: The robot is capable of multi-directional walking and full-body movement. NAO can walk on many different surfaces, such as floors, wooden floors, etc.

- Vision: NAO has two cameras (one on the forehead and one at mouth level) that can capture up to 30 images per second, and can track, learn, and recognize facial images.

- Audio: NAO uses 4 microphones for audio monitoring, speech recognition, and text-to-speech capabilities allowing it to communicate in default languages pre-installed on the system.

Figure 2. Side of camera

2.4. Control software

The Choregraphe software is a cross-platform application that can perform NAO operations using intuitive graphics-based programming. Unlike text-based programming, graphics-based programming is less focused on grammar, and programming is done mainly by using the mouse instead of the keyboard to write code.

Figure 4. Choreograph software

The software allows users to create behaviors and movements for the robot. It is also integrated with modules so that the robot can develop new movements and interactive behaviors. Choregraphe has a library of predefined behaviors, such as walking, sitting, standing, talking, etc. Moreover, the software allows arranging movements in chronological order.

2.5. Learning Objects

First, we need to create a library of recognized objects for the NAO. To do so, connect the robot in Choregraphe, then click View -> Video Monitor in the top menu bar.

Figure 5. Video monitor

Now, put the images that need NAO to learn in front of the camera and press the understand button. A countdown will appear on the Video Monitor, then a single image will pause and display in the window. Then a name is assigned to the image for identification, next, a message appears indicating the success of the learning process, as shown in Figure…, and finally, the image is stored in the facility NAO data. Once all images are stored in the NAO database, NAO will be able to perform object recognition.Once the robot has been installed, students can select the images provided by the teacher and place them in front of the robot's camera to identify the images. After recognition, the robot will say the English name of that image and the properties related to it.

                                                                                                                                                   Th.S Trần Lê Thăng Đồng