Japan’s robot teacher calls roll, smiles and scolds, drawing laughter from students with her eerily lifelike face. But the developer says it’s not about to replace human instructors. 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 wiring around the eyes and the mouth. In a demonstration, the robot’s mouth popped open, its eyes widened and eyebrows arched to appear surprised.
