Science Fiction Dictionary
A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z

 

Easy With Eve Virtual Teacher Understands Student Emotions

Easy with Eve is a new virtual teaching system developed by researcher Hossein Sarrafzadeh and his development group from the Institute of Information and Mathematical Sciences in Auckland, New Zealand.


(Easy with Eve the virtual teacher)

Eve's Final Fantasy-like facade hides the real engineering; Easy with Eve is designed to be a one-to-one system that constantly monitors a student better than a living teacher.

"Researchers wanted to create a virtual teacher that could pick up body language and facial expressions like a real teacher, to ensure they are holding the attention of students," Dr. Sarrafzadeh said. He added, "With rising demand for long-distance learning and online tutoring, a computer programe capable of detecting human emotions may become a critical teaching tool."

The Easy with Eve system uses a variety of methods to watch a student; a web cam monitors the child's facial expressions and body language. Dr. Sarrafzadeh's team observed children and their interactions with teachers; by analyzing thousands of images, they built Eve with the ability to detect when children are frustrated, angry or confused by the material being taught.

Heart rate and skin resistance are also gathered (via a special mouse); this data is added to Eve's understanding of each individual child and their requirements.

The animated avatar - Eve - can ask questions, give feedback, discuss problems and solutions. Eve can also show emotions to help keep the attention of each student. "When we interact with people we expect them to take note of our feelings and reactions. Soon we will be able to expect the same from a computer," says Dr Sarrafzadeh.

Science fiction writers have been dreaming about computer systems that could teach human beings for a long while. An early favorite of mine are the city fathers from James Blish's marvelous 1950's novels gathered in Cities in Flight.

For Eve, however, there is probably a closer analogue. In Twenty Evocations, Bruce Sterling writes about a composite expert system.

When Nikolai Leng was a child, his teacher was a cybernetic system with a holographic interface. The holo took the form of a young Shaper woman. It's "personality" was an interactive composite expert system manufactured by Shaper psychotechs. Nikolai loved it.
(Read more about the cybernetic teaching system)

It would be odd if Eve, the virtual teacher, made use of little teaching assistant robots to help out in the classroom; see Toddlers Embrace Our (Giggling) Robot Overlords for details.

Read more about Virtual Eve, the virtual teacher who understands. Also, take a look at a video of Easy with Eve.

Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 11/19/2007)

Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.

| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |

Would you like to contribute a story tip? It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add it here.

Comment/Join discussion ( 1 )

Related News Stories - (" Computer ")

Great. Now AIs Have Access To Hacking Tools
'... when you and the Flatline punch through that ice and scramble the cores.' - William Gibson, 1984.

Tongue-Controlled Tong Wearable Mouth Computer
'Griff found the white and pink map distracting and switched it off using his tongue mouse.' - Greg Bear, 2007.

Interpol Launches Metaverse For Law Enforcement
'CopSpace sheds some light on matters, of course. Blink and it descends in its full glory.' - Charles Stress, 2007.

AVATECT Prevents Spoofing Of Avatars
'Your physical appearance is a graphical encryption that the human mind is uniquely qualified to decode.' - Daniel Suarez, 2009.

 

Google
  Web TechNovelgy.com   

Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.

 

 

 

 

Science Fiction Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's   1950's
1960's   1970's
1980's   1990's
2000's   2010's

Current News

Robotic Hands Have More Than One Use
'The crawling, exploring object was V-Stephen's surgeon-hand...'

Space Weather To Universe Weather
'It radiates outward in a cone which, by the time it has reached our section of space, is many lightyears across.'

That's MOXIE! Terraforming Mars Baby Steps
'Drake was the young spatial engineer he employed to terraform the little rock.'

'No, I'm Not A Robot' - Robot
'... with a weird simulation of life, the ten forked ends of each arm commenced a rattling pressing of the buttons.'

Missing Jet Finally Found
Ah, what could have been - still in the future.

Philippines Coast Guard Cuts Chinese Barrier
'Each of the four areas is enclosed by a sonic wall...'

Barista Robot Perfects Latte Swirl With Multi-DOF Wriggle
'It's done with a flip of the third joint of the tentacle on the down beat.'

Vendetta 2023 All-Terrain Skateboard Could Use Neal Stephenson's Smartwheels
'If you surf over a bump... If you surf over a pothole...'

Safe Street Rebel Autonomous Vehicle Luddites And Schachner's 1931 Robot-Deranger
'Then the spreading beam of the deranging ray struck them, and they stood an instant transfixed...'

The Electric Balance Bicycle And The Decline Of Western Civilization
'Noiselessly, on rubber-tired wheels, they journeyed...'

'Droplet' Battery Microscale Power Pack
'...a power pack the size of a pea.'

ARX-5 Doing Robot Arm Dancing
It's Data's day - at last.

CD, DVD Bit Rot And PKD's Civic Notification Distorter
'...copy two of the original document no longer can be superimposed on copy one.'

Inbiodroid Prometheus 2.0 Telepresence Avatar Robot
My prize robot, tall, dashing would speak and act for me...

Amazon One Is Frank Herbert's Palm Lock
'A palm lock must be keyed to one individual's hand shape and palm lines.'

DroneDog Ground Security Robot Dogs From Asylon
'I have transferred the ego of a dog to a synthetic dog brain in the skull case of a robot dog.'

More SF in the News Stories

More Beyond Technovelgy science news stories

Home | Glossary | Invention Timeline | Category | New | Contact Us | FAQ | Advertise |
Technovelgy.com - where science meets fiction™

Copyright© Technovelgy LLC; all rights reserved.