Meet the robots programmed by kids to speak their Indigenous languages
Danielle Boyer has developed SkoBot, a small, AI-powered robot designed to help Indigenous children learn and preserve their native languages. The project aims to combat language loss by making education interactive and culturally relevant for youth.
Why it matters
It highlights innovative technological approaches to cultural preservation and addressing the historical trauma of Indigenous language suppression.
SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. — The idea came to Danielle Boyer in a toy store. The inspiration? It was Tickle Me Elmo.
"Whenever you'd press his belly, he would talk, and he would teach you things," she said. "There are toys that teach us in English, but there aren't toys that teach us Anishinaabemowin . And I wanted that to be different."
Anishinaabemowin includes the Potawatomi, Odawa and Ojibwe languages. Exact estimates vary, but there are fewer than 10,000 people in the U.S. who speak Anishinaabemowin . That number is around 25,000 in Canada. Some Native languages have just a few dozen fluent speakers , while others have none .
Boyer has seen how quickly language loss can happen. Her grandmother speaks Anishinaabemowin , but she is one of the last fluent speakers of their dialect.
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