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<h3 style="margin-top:0;"><a style="font-weight: 500; font-size: 21px;line-height: 30px; margin-top:25px; margin-bottom: 10px;" href="http://u.osu.edu/mclc/2019/02/21/robot-does-tedious-homework/" target="_blank">Robot does tedious homework</a></h3>
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<p>Source: NYT (1/21/19)<br />
<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/21/world/asia/china-handwriting-robot.html">Chinese Girl Finds a Way Out of Tedious Homework: Make a Robot Do It</a><br />
By Daniel Victor and Tiffany May</p>
<p>HONG KONG — Some would say she cheated. Others would say she found an efficient way to finish her tedious assignment and ought to be applauded for her initiative.</p>
<p>The debate lit up Chinese social media this week after the <a class="css-1g7m0tk" title="" href="http://m.ifeng.com/shareNews?ch=qd_sdk_dl1&aid=ucms_7kKloxMHFsu" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Qianjiang Evening News reported</a> that a teenage girl had found a loophole for her homework: She bought a robot that mimicked her handwriting. Instead of having to manually copy phrases or selections from a textbook dozens of times, a repetitive task common in learning Chinese, she could just teach the robot to do it for her.</p>
<p>On Weibo, a popular social media platform, commenters who had suffered through endless hours of similar homework themselves were split, though most appeared to be sympathetic or even impressed.</p>
<p>“Give her a break. How meaningful is copying anyway?” one commenter asked.</p>
<p>“The difference between humans and other animals is that they know how to make and use tools,” another reasoned. “This young lady already knows how to do this.”</p>
<p>Proficiently reading and writing in Chinese requires knowing thousands of characters. Copying them repeatedly is often seen as a necessary step in learning how to write them. In addition to being tested on individual characters, they may also be asked to transcribe a literary text from memory — an assignment usually dreaded by students.</p>
<p>Like Bart in <a class="css-1g7m0tk" title="" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPzS3QYb868" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the opening sequence of “The Simpsons,”</a> students can also be punished by being made to write out texts repeatedly; unlike Bart, they are often ordered to copy whole textbook chapters, not just single sentences. Chinese curriculums in both the sciences and humanities prize rote memorization.</p>
<p>The Chinese newspaper reported that the girl had spent about 800 yuan, or $120, that she had saved from Lunar New Year presents to buy the robot.</p>
<p>She finished a slew of text-copying assignments in two days, much faster than her mother expected, the newspaper reported. The mother discovered — and then smashed — the machine while cleaning the girl’s room, according to the article.</p>
<p>Such technology typically uses robotics to drag a pen across an anchored piece of paper. Some of the products feature pre-loaded handwriting styles, while some allow users to digitize and copy their own handwriting.</p>
<p>The robots are a modern update to a technology that has long existed. At its most basic level, it’s easy to create custom stamps that replicate a signature. Barack Obama was the first American president to <a class="css-1g7m0tk" title="" href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/president-obamas-autopen-when-is-an-autograph-not-an-autograph-574822/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">use an autopen to sign legislation</a>, though presidents since Harry Truman have used them for correspondence.</p>
<p><iframe class="css-uwwqev" title="YouTube Video" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-oY9Z_m0aF0" width="600" height="300" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></p>
<p>Credit<span class="css-1dv1kvn">Credit</span>Video by AutopenCo</p>
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<p class="css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0">A New York-based company, <a class="css-1g7m0tk" title="" href="https://www.bond.co/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Bond</a>, uses similar robots to send “handwritten” notes by the thousands. The company says it is “dedicated to recreating the nuance and beauty of human writing.”</p>
<p><iframe class="css-uwwqev" title="YouTube Video" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XhSciWzgR1I" width="600" height="300" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></p>
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<p><span class="emkp2hg2 css-1nwzsjy e1z0qqy90"><span class="css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0">Credit</span><span class="css-1dv1kvn">Credit</span>Video by Bond</span>It’s also not the first time intrepid Chinese students have found ways to cut corners on their copying assignments.</p>
<p>“Back in the day, we already felt so smug for tying two pens together,” one Weibo commenter said.</p>
<p>Claire Fu contributed research from Beijing.</p>
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by <a href="mailto:denton.2@osu.edu">denton.2@osu.edu</a> on February 21, 2019 </div>
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