Owl robot 'Luka' captures children's hearts at Chungnam Provincial Library

The Chungnam Provincial Library in Hongseong-gun, South Korea, has introduced an artificial intelligence robot named 'Luka' that is quickly becoming a favorite among young visitors. The library acquired two of these AI-powered book-reading robots on July 23rd and placed them in the children's section.

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(It doesn't read stiffly, but) changes its voice according to the characters, as if performing a fairy tale.

Luka, designed to resemble an owl, offers an interactive reading experience. Children can have Luka read a picture book by simply scanning its cover with the robot's eye. The robot then reads the story aloud, adapting its voice to match different characters, making the storytelling more engaging and lifelike. The library reports that Luka reads between 400 and 1,000 books daily.

To cater to its young audience, Luka is equipped with special headphones that limit sound output to 85 decibels to protect children's hearing. Currently, about 100 books are available for Luka to read, with plans to expand its repertoire. Luka was developed by AI Friends, a company specializing in AI service robots, and is conceptualized as an alien life form that came to Earth to collect stories.

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On days with few visitors, it reads 400 books, and on busy days, up to 1,000.

The library anticipates that Luka will significantly boost children's interest in reading. Officials believe that this novel approach, leveraging AI technology, will help children who are already familiar with digital environments to connect more naturally with books and develop a stronger reading habit, especially in situations where parents may not have the time to read to them.

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For children familiar with the digital environment, a new reading experience using AI technology will lead to increased interest and engagement with books.