A robot that does homework sparks controversy in China

The case of a student in Harbin who used a device to copy texts hundreds of times sparks controversy. The issue has been read 13 million times in social media in a country caught between innovation and tradition.

Beijing – The case of a Chinese schoolgirl buying a so-called copying robot to write her homework has got many social media users chattering.

The girl, anonymous for privacy reasons, bought a device that perfectly copies a person’s writing. This enabled her to avoid copying herself.

Copying text hundreds of time is common practice and is considered essential to memorise the classics and improve spelling.

The girl’s mother, surnamed Zhang, was angered by her daughter’s trick and smashed the machine. “It can help you with homework, but can it help you on tests?” she was quoted as saying.

The issue made its way onto social media where users are divided. Some view the use of the device as legitimate, whilst others see it as a scam.

On Weibo, China’s equivalent of Twitter, the topic was read over 13 million times by 19 February.

One user, using the online alias Rain, said that she was a teacher and had been using the machine for over a year.

She explained that she had spent a week writing thousands of characters to create her own font, and added that nobody could tell the difference between what the robot wrote and her own work. – AsiaNews/Agencies, 02/25/2019