Not that robots with emotions are anything new, but a project going on in Europe could perfect the art of crafting mechanical people that can "learn when a person is sad, happy or angry." The Feelix Growing project is getting even more advanced with software that gives robots the power to understand how a person is feeling based on feedback from cameras and sensors. The bots look at a human's facial expression and key in on their voice and proximity to determine what kind of mood they're in. As with the recently announced UMass Mobile Manipulator, this creature too learns from experience, and there's a video explaining just what we mean waiting for you in the read link.

[Via Physorg]

They aren't quite ready to ship, but LeapFrog's big-boy-and-girl gaming / learning handhelds are finally up for pre-order over on the outfit's website. For those who missed the February introduction, the firm is hailing the web-connected Didj (pictured) as the "first completely customizable educational gaming platform," and given that it is summertime here in the US of A, this is probably your only shot at getting your kiddo to do anything beneficial for their brain for the next two to three months. Get in line now for $89.99 (Didj) / $69.99 (Leapster 2).

[Via CNET]

Read - Didj order page
Read - Leapster 2 order page

Robots teaching robots? Check. Robots teaching humans? Check. Robots learning things on their own accord? Um, terrifying? All kidding aside, the UMass Mobile Manipulator is one smart cookie. Put simply, this intelligent robot pushes objects around in order to identify how they move, and once that's accomplish, it begins "manipulating them to perform tasks." If this sounds awfully similar to something your infant does, that's because the two are indeed very much related. UMan, as it's so eloquently dubbed, packs its own wheels, battery pack, one-meter arm, three-fingered hand and webcam in order to interact with the world, and sure enough, one researcher even mentioned the potential of it learning to operate a pair of scissors. Great, what's next -- a BFG?

[Via CrunchGear]

We've already got Nokia handsets being used to teach math in South Africa, so we totally knew it was only a matter of time before a gaming handheld or two got in on the fun. Select middle school kids at Tokyo Joshi Gakuen school are not only allowed to bust out their DS in class, they're required to. As the school attempts to make English education "fun" for everyone, it's currently using Nintendo's famed handheld along with English learning software in order to keep students interested in nailing those dilettantes, truckles and wunderkinds. There's no telling if the pilot will blossom and invade other institutions, but we have all ideas children across the country will be requesting it when asked to fill out end-of-year comment cards and the like.

[Via Switched]

Never heard of Abilene Christian University? We're guessing a wide majority of the general public hasn't either, but the institution is definitely getting its name out there by promising each incoming freshman this fall an iPhone or iPod touch. Granted, these aren't being explicitly marked as "free," but similar to Duke's efforts in years past, ACU plans on using these devices for educational enrichment. Reportedly, the handhelds will enable students to "receive homework alerts, answer in-class surveys and quizzes, get directions to their professors' offices, and check their meal and account balances" -- and that's just for starters. Interestingly, we aren't told whether or not the folks already enrolled will be left out -- nor what determines which Apple you get -- but we do know that the entity is hoping to "expand the program in the future."

[Thanks, Byzil]

It won't give you the non-stop learning of something like LeapFrog's handhelds, but ViewPlus seems to think its new and improved IVEO system has its share of knowledge to spread nonetheless, although all that learning doesn't exactly come cheap. Coming in at just under $600 for the basic kit, the system is centered around the IVEO touchpad (available in two different sizes), which can accommodate special tactile templates or custom templates made with the IVEO Creator software (available at an added cost). Those, in turn, interact with the IVEO Viewer software, which pumps out sound clips and other information about the items the user touches. While the company obviously thinks that makes the system ideal for all students, they say its also particularly well-suited to those people with visual or learning disabilities, and it even includes an output for a Braille display. If that sounds like the tool for you, you can grab the whole bundle now for $1,300, with additional curriculum packs for biology, math, health and geography coming soon.

Heads-up kiddos! LeapFrog is out to swipe even more of that allowance with a pair of all new web-connected handhelds. Up first is the Leapster2, which now boasts a sleeker form factor and the ability to upload your totally sweet results to the web for mum and dad to ooh and ahh over. For you older tykes, the Didj handheld -- which is hailed as the first completely customizable educational gaming platform -- enables users to "personalize the look and feel of the games, from designing their avatars to choosing background scenery, color schemes and music." Also of note, the Didj features a 3.2-inch 320 x 240 resolution panel, a 393MHz ARM9 processor and 256MB of Flash memory, which should provide plenty of incentive to hack this thing into a second-rate media player when not beefing up that mental muscle. Both units are set to launch this summer for $69.99 and $89.99, respectively, while software titles for each will run $24.99 and $29.99, also respectively.

[Via I4U News]

We never liked taking tests in a general sense, but there was always something fun about filling in the answers with that trusty No. 2 of ours. The "Is our machines learning?" bot, shown off at the 2007 NYU ITP Winter Show, takes over that delicious task but still leaves humans with the chore of answering the questions remotely over the internets. The bot's name is a not-so-subtle jab at President Bush's grammar skills, but if we told you more we might all be in danger of some educatin', and the world doesn't need any more of that!

Hungerhill School, a secondary school in Doncaster, South Yorkshire is running a trial that involves tagging the uniforms of pupils with RFID tags. The tags pull up data including academic performance, the child's current location, and can even deny access to certain restricted areas -- behind the bike shed, perhaps? The trial has raised the usual questions of privacy and human rights, although since the trial is voluntary and provides convenience by auto-registering pupils, the current iteration of the trial isn't a particularly great violation. Call us when kids get tags from birth, then we'll take to the streets: but probably only because ours missed out. We'll take our tongue out of our cheek now.

[Via Picture Phoning]

Carlos Slim, who is (debatably) the richest man on the face of the planet, has recently pledged to do some good with all that fundage, and we'd say that donating "250,000 low-cost laptops to children by the end of the year and as many as one million in 2008" is a fine start. Noting "digital education" as the key for turning much of Mexico around, he is aiming to "initially put the laptops in libraries and schools" and hand them out to students afterwards. Moreover, he suggested that his company (Telmex) would be there to help set up wireless networks for the machines to connect to, and as if these plans were enormous enough, he's also looking to establish "early stimulation" preschools within four years to give "poor children training at a young age in math, language, and computers."

[Via Wired]

We've always wondered why companies kept cranking out e-dictionaries for the demographic too proud to actually bust one out in public and get their learning on, but Sharp is making amends by offering up a new model in the KIDSDIC series. The KD-E1 arrives in a colorful orange and white enclosure, and features an internal speaker, headphone jack, color display, several mini-games, stories, and songs to keep your kid intrigued in between vowels. Judging by the button layout, it looks like this is a Korean-only gizmo for the time being, but those in Seoul can try to convince their kids that this is cooler than a PSP for a stiff ₩365,000 ($397).

[Via AkihabaraNews]

We know deans, principals, and presidents -- it sounded like such a terrific idea at the time, eh? Apparently, the notion that throwing a portal into the world laptop in front of easily distracted and technologically savvy kids doesn't look so rosy anymore, as the NYTimes is reporting that many schools across America are finally ditching one-to-one laptop programs after seeing "literally no evidence it had any impact on student achievement." Of course, a good deal of teachers already had beef with the idea, and schools have subsequently found out that allowing DAPs or even WiFi in a supposed learning environment just might cause more harm than good, but in a particular New York high school, students tended to "crash the network" during study hall rather than actually complete work. Interestingly, studies also insinuated that in-class laptops proved more of a hindrance than a learning liaison regardless if the school was considered affluent or low-income. And these overseas officials really think its youngsters are going to utilize the OLPC for learning purposes. Right on.

If you thought taking a ride on the GamerBUS was a thrill, this one will really make you long to be a youngster in Arkansas again. Reportedly, the Sheridan school district is launching the Aspirnaut Initiative to bring laptops, iPods, and wireless internet right onto Bus 46, and amazingly, they expect kids to actually glean knowledge rather than hit up a round or two of Counter-Strike. The project hopes to make the unbelievably long (three hours, to be exact) commute that some rural students face a bit less boring and a tad more educational, as students will have access to informational podcasts and web-based learning modules whilst cruising on home. Interestingly, the three-year pilot project will not give students class credit for their extra effort initially, but for brainiacs who stick with the program, they'll purportedly be keeping the goods for themselves once the trial run concludes.

[Via ArsTechnica]

While we English speaking folk may prefer our pocket translators to start in English and convert to some other foreign tongue, Casio's latest rendition helps those fluent in Japanese order tickets to the Space Needle, haggle at the Chevrolet dealership, and of course, pick up the correct ingredients for warm apple pie. Aimed at middle / high school students, the XD-SW4800 lineup of handheld dictionaries reportedly house the denotation and correct pronunciation for over "85,000 languages," which ironically enough, probably translates to "85,000 words" when not read through a broken translator. Nevertheless, these handy gizmos come in a variety of colors, and aside from supporting keyboard input, it can recognize stylus-written characters and toss back definitions while pronouncing the word to you via headphones. If America isn't your final destination, it also comes with five other major languages on CD that can be loaded on the 50MB of internal space or on your SD card if necessary, and while these things won't last forever, the approximate 60 to 130 hours of battery life should be more than enough to get you acclimated. So while you're waiting for your passport to show up, make sure you pick up Casio's latest travel necessity -- if you can manage the admittedly steep ¥47,250 ($394) to ¥52,500 ($437) price points, that is.

[Via Impress]

Let's face it, not all of us will have the luxury of attending a school where we get to construct massive LEGO machines or learn how to become savvy in SMS, but a developing technology that tracks student emotions could help tutors and distance instructors alike in keeping kids focused while learning. Co-developed by Essex University's Vic Callaghan and Shanghai Jiao Tong University's Liping Shen, the emotion-tracking tutoring software can analyze physical signs to keep track of a student's attention span, their level of understanding, and even the amount of stress a certain lesson produces. Aimed to help tutors become more effective and to add another layer of "personal" to distance-based education courses, the software would receive information about a student's "heart rate, blood pressure and changes in electrical resistance caused by perspiration" via a sensor-laden, Bluetooth-enabled ring worn on one's finger. The information can then be assessed to determine a student's interest level and frustration level, but a decibel meter to measure snoring isn't likely to be included. If all goes as planned, the team intends on testing the system out in "real learning scenarios in China" to further tweak their creation, so it won't be too long now before an interest-tracking ring will become as necessary as pencil and paper a stylus and a tablet PC come class time.