Yujin Robot has developed a robotic English tutor for elementary schools called ROBOSEM, which it revealed late last year.  It’s a modified version of their beverage-delivery robot CAFERO, with a large LCD display that shows the teacher’s face or an animated avatar.  Live two-way interaction allows the tutor to work with students from anywhere, and it looks like they’re working out a system that uses simple signals to speed things up.  Also apparent are the many ultrasonic range sensors and a laser range finder on its base to help automatically avoid collisions by detecting obstacles.  The robot is currently being used in after-school lessons, but the kids don’t seem to mind putting in the extra time with their cool new pal.

[source: MSN (KR)] & [CCDailyNews (KR)]