Robot teacher calls roll, smiles and scolds, drawing laughter from students with her eerily lifelike face. But the Japanese developer says it is not just about to replace human instructor. Unlike more mechanical looking robots like Honda's Asimo, the robot teacher, called saya, can express six basic emotions-surprise, fear, disgust, anger, happiness, sadness-because its rubber skin is being pulled from the back with motors and writing around the eyes and the mouth.
In a demonstration, the robot's mouth popped open, its eyes widened and eyebrows arched to appear surprised.