Level 3 · Reading series
Lesson 24 · A Robot Could Sort the Boxes
Audio track 24
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Our science club built a small robot for sorting donated books. A camera read colored stickers, and the robot pushed each box toward the correct table. During our first test, it worked well with red and blue stickers.
Then a box with a torn sticker arrived. The robot stopped because it could not decide which color it was. We could have forced it to guess, but the books might have gone to the wrong table. We added a “please check” area instead.
At the next test, the robot moved most boxes and left uncertain ones for us. That was not a failure. We had designed a way for the machine to say, in its own way, “I need a human to look.”
Check your understanding
After reading, state the main idea in one sentence and find a line that supports it.
Chinese translation
我们科学社做了一台小机器人，用来给捐赠图书分类。摄像头识别箱子上的彩色贴纸，机器人把每个箱子推向对应的桌子。第一次测试时，它能正确处理红色和蓝色贴纸。
后来，一个贴纸破了的箱子送了过来。机器人停住了，因为它无法判断贴纸是什么颜色。我们本可以强迫它猜一个，可那样书可能会被送错地方。于是，我们增设了一个‘请检查’区域。
下一次测试中，机器人搬走了大部分箱子，把颜色无法确定的留给我们处理。这并不算失败。我们设计了一种方式，让机器用自己的办法说：‘请让人来看一眼。’
Key words and expressions
Key terms have Chinese explanations. Hover over dotted words in the English passage for word help and pronunciation when available.
- sort
- 分类；按贴纸颜色分送图书。
- donated
- 捐赠的；这些书是别人送来的。
- sticker
- 贴纸、标签；机器根据颜色识别箱子。
- push
- 推动；机器人把箱子送向桌子。
- correct
- 正确的；各颜色对应指定桌子。
- torn
- 破损的；标签残缺使颜色难辨。
- decide
- 判断；机器人无法确定贴纸颜色。
- force
- 强迫；硬要机器猜可能导致错误。
- uncertain
- 不确定的；留给人来查看。
- design a way
- 设计一种方法；设置‘请检查’区域。
Background notes (Chinese)
自动分类并不要求机器对每种情况都硬做决定。标签破损时，保留不确定的箱子供人检查，比随意猜测更能避免分错书。