The Neoseeker.com wrote:
“You got to hand it to those zany Japanese scientists. They are just one step ahead of everyone else in the whole robo-game.
Coming for a trail-run at a classroom somewhere in the heart of Tokyo is this robo-teacher. Her name is Saya. Her creator, science professor?Dr. Light?Hiroshi Kobayashi, spent the last 15 years working diligently on her.
Teacher Saya can speak a few different languages, interact with the students, take attendance, assign homework, and her face is capable of displaying robo-emotions utilizing 18 different motors. Saya wasn’t built only to teach: she is a general purpose robot, that has been used in other roles.” …more....

Saya the teaching robot, makes debut in Japanese school
Herald Sun–March 10, 2009 10:49am
In what could be a way of the future, primary students in Tokyo are being taught by a robot.Saya is the result of 15 years of research and is being tested as a teacher after working as a receptionist. It is multilingual, can organise set tasks for pupils, call the roll and get angry when the kids misbehave.
Saya is just one example of Japan’s determination to put a robot in every home by 2015. Others are already used as traffic wardens.
The robot was originally developed for companies who want to cut costs by replacing office workers a such as secretaries and receptionists with an android that had a range of human expressions.…more...