MyBuddy.ai

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• Technologies of distance learning
• Artificial intelligence in education
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• Smart columns Voice assistants (world market)

The Buddy application represents the virtual animation tutor of the English, in playful way giving to children the basic colloquial skills sufficient for communication in many situations. Distinctive feature of Buddy — voice AI technologies. With their help the virtual teacher builds dialog with the child, thereby training skills of real-life communication in the most different contexts.

2020

Start of sales of the Buddy application in the Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America

On August 12, 2020 Buddy.ai — the developer of the virtual English teacher using voice artificial intelligence of Buddy announced the beginning of sales of the application in the Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America.

More than 500 million children around the world learn English as foreign. At the same time, despite all efforts and the money spent on tutors, it is very difficult to begin to speak fluently nonnative language without enough hours of colloquial practice.

Buddy.ai helps to solve this problem with the help of the voice artificial intelligence similar to that which is used in voice assistants. The company developed the game application in which children of 4-10 years communicate and play with the nice character — the Buddy robot, gathering necessary practice of colloquial English and deriving a lot of pleasure.

Test application launch in Mexico and Chile showed that a product long-awaited and demanded. In three months of preliminary testing revenue from the paid subscriptions purchased by the Latin American users reached 25% in a total amount of revenue of the company. According to the results of a pilot project, the company made the decision on full-scale start of business in the territory of all hispanic Latin America.

The version of Buddy.ai for Spanish-speaking pupils has market potential. Spanish — the second in prevalence in the world, is official language in 21 countries with the general population 577 million people. Also in a number of regions there lives the considerable number of hispanic migrants. For example, in the USA for August, 2020 of such 57 million people, from which only 11.6 million — bilinguals. The others learn English as foreign. For 71% of the children mastering English at schools of the USA Spanish is native (according to Migration Policy Institute).

The training based on game mechanics (Game-Based Learning) which is applied by Buddy.ai, is recognized by scientific pedagogical community as one of effective working methods with children. This approach in training of 'digital natives' or Alf's generation is especially relevant. These are the children who were born after 2010 who master digital devices still before learn to read. The virtual tutor of Buddy having voice artificial intelligence communicates with little pupils, helps to expand a lexicon, plays with them games during which children repeat material in different contexts. This technique — interval repetition or spaced repetition — activates long-term memory. Thus, without efforts, independently, in any place and at any time, the child improves pronunciation and colloquial English.

For August 12, 2020, the Buddy.ai application was downloaded by four million times.

The training mode based on interval repetition (spaced repetition)

On June 16, 2020 it became known that the MyBuddy.ai company – the creator of the virtual voice English teacher on the basis of artificial intelligence for children, provided the training mode based on interval repetition (spaced repetition) – it is easier for scientifically proved educational technique helping children to remember the English words and phrases.

Interval repetition (Spaced Repetition) – a modern method of storing of large volumes of information. Its efficiency when training children is proved by different researches. So, in the magazine 'Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition' is said that the method improves long-term memory on new material. The equipment consists in use so-called a flash cards using which the pupil repeats material through certain, constantly increasing intervals. At the same time, "flash card" with more compound words and phrases are shown to a thicket. Repetition can be made several minutes later after the word was heard, then – in a couple of hours, every other day, 2 days, etc.

To make interval repetition more attractive to children, MyBuddy.ai turned it into a separate game in which children should remember and pronounce aloud the English words and phrases to defeat the zombie robots space. "Therefore we also called the new mode 'Space Repetition' – interval repetition in space.

Training at a basis of a game allows to involve the maximum number of channels of perception of information – sight, hearing and motility, and is directed to permanent improvement of language skills due to complex repetition. Children will be able to learn more than 450 English words and phrases, to practice real dialogs and to train understanding aurally using video topics.

In the provided mode the modern methodology of training and fascinating game design and graphics which are beyond standard educational applications are integrated. This long-awaited update released in response to requests of parents and teachers whose children and pupils play and study with Buddy. Start of 'Space repetition' — a part of product development strategy of MyBuddy.ai which is focused on use of modern methods of adaptive training and personalisation.

Our development of 'Space Repetition' solves one of the main tasks of modern education – involvement of the child in learning process and increase in motivation using a game. At the heart of our approach — the concept of Game-Based Learning. Communicating and playing colloquial games with the friendly Buddy robot, the child, without noticing that, learns new words which further will be able easily to use in colloquial practice. Buddy helps to organize process of interval repetition and to simplify it. To the child different mechanics for storing of a word – pictures are offered, to a song, by video, mini-games that promotes formation of bigger number of neural communications in a brain. At the expense of it process of storing goes much easier and quicker, — Dmitry Stavisky, the operating officer of Mybuddy.ai comments

The MyBuddy.ai application is one of the most technological in the educational industry. In 2020 we won Global EdTech Startups Awards as the innovation startup. In MyBuddy.ai we connect the most modern techniques of training, including interval repetition, to advanced technologies, such as understanding of the speech using artificial intelligence (AI). But for children all this is unimportant, to them should be cheerful, otherwise they just will not study. Therefore children are taught by Buddy — the robot researcher from space which battles against silly and funny robots zombies who lost memory and want to prevent children to remember the English words. Together with Buddy children pass thematic expeditions to win at the end a prize — a suit for the robot. The game 'Space Repetition', actually, is interval repetition of that material which the child masters in expeditions with Buddy, — Ivan Kryukov, the co-founder and the CEO of MyBuddy.ai speaks

The updated application "Our favourite children's applications" in App Store once again included in a selection.

For April the application was downloaded by more than 1 million users

Since launch in the spring of 2018 the Buddy application was already downloaded by more than one million users around the world. Over 20 thousand paying students practice colloquial English together with the virtual tutor of Buddy, and their number grew by 10 times of all in a year. MyBuddy.ai services are demanded in Europe and Latin America and also among children of immigrants in the USA. This TAdviser became known on April 8, 2020. Read more here.

Links

Link to MyBuddy.ai service