Future Robots is a lesson that provides you with the opportunity to discover what sort of jobs robots are doing now and what the future robots will be doing. This lesson is centred around the theme Science and Technology from the IGCSE ESL curriculum which explores the way we use technology and science in the digital world. In this lesson, we will practice our listening and reading skills by learning how well they can communicate and what tasks future robots will take over from humans.
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Read the article. Write words under different headings.
For some time now, scientists have been promising to introduce us to a new generation of mobile robots that can do almost everything to make our lives easier. We are told that they will be able to clean our houses, do all the weekly shopping at the supermarket, successfully steer our cars through the crowded city streets and guide us effortlessly to our holiday destinations.
So far, unfortunately, the promise has remained unfulfilled. This is mainly because the scientists have failed to programme their robots to distinguish between the permanent features of a typical street scene and those, which are temporary and can move from place to place. Some things, which are seen in a street – buildings, street lamps and so on – will always be in the same place. Other things, however, such as cars, trucks and buses, and even smaller objects, like bicycles or babies’ pushchairs, will almost certainly have been moved elsewhere.
We, humans, have no difficulty in accepting these minor changes when we observe familiar scenes, but for robots, up to now, it has been a serious problem. Earlier robots became confused by these insignificant changes and were consequently unable to function properly. Recently, however, it has been reported that members of the Robotics Research Group at the University of Oxford have given their robots a new kind of visual memory which makes them much more successful.
The new computer program, called Clever Map, trains the robot to recognise familiar objects as a whole and to accept the movement of some objects, such as cars, from one place to another. So when, for instance, a vehicle which the robot has formerly seen in a particular location is not in the same place again, it can dismiss the absence of the vehicle as unimportant. At the same time, the robot is no longer confused by the fact that identical features such as bricks, doors and windows may appear in different locations.
The research workers first took their robot for walks around the buildings and gardens of their university college. Once the robot managed to recognise the familiar surroundings, they took it out into the streets of the city of Oxford and it successfully produced maps of the whole city centre. The next step was to put a robot in the passenger seat of a car and to test it out on a thousand-kilometre journey around the countryside. This has resulted in the production of the largest robot-created maps to date.
These latest “super robots” have the ability to learn the details of their surroundings and to use a set of rules in their computer programs to deal with changes. We have not yet reached a stage of development when we can employ a robot to serve all our domestic needs, but the time is now not so far distant.
Here are the words and phrases covered in this lesson about future robots:
- Bluetooth
- digital assistants
- domestic needs
- future robots
- next generation
- technology extravaganza
- real-time data
- sensors
- touch screens
- voice assistants
- Customs and Traditions
- Entertainment and Leisure
- Environment and Nature
- Family and Lifestyle
- Fitness and Sports
- Science and Technology
- Shopping and Consumer Society
- Travel and Adventure
- Work and Education
Exploring the way humans and animals live, adapt and change on our planet
- City or Countryside Living
- Transport Systems
- Dangerous Spiders and Snakes
- Extreme Weather
- Taking photos
- Natural World Puzzles
- Changes in the weather
- Seas and Oceans Puzzles
- Geography Exercises
- Natural World Word Search
- Exercise 2 Weather Reports
- Exercise 3 Managing Waste
- Exercise 1 Keeping Bees in the City
- Exercise 4 Reducing Noise Pollution
- Exercise 6 Important Developments Article
- Exercise 6 Recycling Centre Report
Explore the way we use technology and science in the modern world
- Exercise 4 Shipwrecked
- Ancient Structures
- Exercise 6 Eating Out in Berlin Travel Report
- Exercise 2 Different Cultures
- Exercise 1 Walking to the North Pole
- Exercise 4 Travel Writing
- Exercise 2 Time Travel
- Exercise 2 Train Journeys
- Exercise 2 Different Summer Camps
- London Travel Guide
- Riding a Motorbike Listening Exercise
- Adjective Suffixes
- Exercise 5 Returning Home
- Travel Puzzles
- Great Ship Adventure Listening Exercise
- Exercise 6 Living in Different Places
- Exercise 5 Interesting Meeting
- Exercise 1 & 2 (Extended)
- Exercise 3 & 4 (Extended)
- Exercise 5 & 6 (Extended)
- Listening Questions 1-5
- Listening Exercise 3 & 4
- Listening 5 (Extended)
- Videos (Extended)
- Speaking Test
Exercise 1 - Read a text and answer a series of questions.
Exercise 2 - Read a text and answer a series of questions testing more detailed comprehension.
Exercise 3 - Make brief notes related to a piece of text.
- Exercise 3 Being Bilingual
- Exercise 3 Extended Video introduction
- Exercise 3 Finding time to do things
- Exercise 3 Frozen Caveman
- Exercise 3 Kite Surfing
- Exercise 3 Life in 2069
- Exercise 3 World’s Sporting Champions
- Exercise 3 Young Mountaineer
Exercise 4 - Write a summary.
Exercise 5 - Write an informal email.
- Bonfire Night
- Exercise 5 Birthday Party
- Exercise 5 Cousin Visiting (Description)
- Exercise 5 Favourite Film
- Exercise 5 Going for an Interview (Advice)
- Exercise 5 Going on Holiday
- Exercise 5 Interesting Meeting
- Exercise 5 New Attraction
- Exercise 5 Restaurant Visit (Narrative)
- Exercise 5 Returning Home
Exercise 6 - Write a report, review or article.
- Animal Sanctuary
- Becoming Vegetarian Article
- Ed Sheeran Concert Review
- Exam Advice Article
- Exercise 6 Career’s Talk Report
- Exercise 6 Dangerous Shopping Book Review
- Exercise 6 Eating Out in Berlin Travel Report
- Exercise 6 Important Developments Article
- Exercise 6 Living in Different Places
- Exercise 6 Recycling Centre Report
- Exercise 6 Subject Choices Article
- Exercise 6 Thai Restaurant Review
- Mission Impossible – Fallout Review
- Online Gaming Article
- Smartphone Review
- Snack Machine Article
- Sports Lessons Article
- Work Experience Day Report
- Working in the Summer Holidays Report
Exercise 1 (Questions 1 -4) - Short answer exercises
Exercise 2 - (Question 5) Gap-filled exercises
Exercise 3 - Matching
Exercise 4 - Multiple Choice
Exercise 5 - Gap Fill Part A
Exercise 5 - Gap Fill Part B
Here are videos to help you with the reading and wrting sections.
- Exercise 1 Extended Video introduction
- Exercise 2 Extended Video introduction
- Exercise 3 Extended Video introduction
- Exercise 4 How to write a Summary (Extended)
- Exercise 5 How to write an Informal Advice Email
- Exercise 5 How to write an Informal Descriptive Email
- Exercise 5 How to write an Informal Narrative Email
- Exercise 6 Becoming Vegetarian
- Exercise 6 How to write a Film Review
- Exercise 6 How to write a report
- Exercise 6 How to write a review
- Exercise 6 How to write an Event Report
- How to write a school magazine article
- Report Writing with Subheadings
Speaking Test Examples:
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