The HangulBot, developed by the research team of Professor Sonya S. Kwak (HSS), won the Delegate’s Choice prize on Dec. 8 at the International Conference on Social Robotics 2011 held in the Netherlands.

The robot, developed by Prof. Kwak, Song Young-bin (CSE 08), Park Joon-sin (ME 09), Eun Ho Kim (KAIST), and Ji Myung Kim (KAIST), was designed for children and non-Koreans. By rotating and rearranging a consonant block and a vowel block, learners can understand the concept of the phonetic aspect of the Korean language in a short time.

The robot was designed to perceive the arrangement of the blocks by IR LEDs and phototransistors installed on each block. By receiving the radiation signals of the consonant block, the vowel block plays the corresponding sound of each arrangement through the installed speaker.

The research team expects HangulBot to improve users’ space perception through a multi-sensory learning experience.