Hello Robot! A website to raise interest in a STEM future through Internet speech controlled robots.

摘要

This Research to Practice Work in Progress paper reports on a project to interest children in STEM subjects (and later on, hopefully to encourage them to enroll in engineering and science programs). Initially (in 2014) the project used proprietary technology (Microsoft Xbox/Kinect). In 2015, Internet-based but region-limited technologies were tested (Google speech recognition API). In 2017 it changed to its current form, a website using the Annyang JavaScript speech recognition library. The site allows children (and others) to program robots through speech commands, or by clicking buttons. Once finished, the commands are sent by email to the university that has the robot. There, the robot actions are videotaped and uploaded to YouTube or its Chinese equivalent Youku. This will allow for a future scenario where a 7-year-old tells his/her friends “Yesterday, I programmed a robot in China. Let's watch the video!”.