Robot teachers invade Chinese kindergartens

A two-foot (60 cm) tall robot is being used to teach young children in Chinese schools. Keeko the robot bears a startling resemblance to Eve from the Pixar film Wall-E and moves around completely independently via inbuilt sensors and cameras. It also comes fitted with a small screen to interact with the pupils and is being used by teachers to tell stories and present logic problems to the kindergarten students. More than 600 kindergartens across the country have been equipped with a Keeko bot and the makers of the round machine hope to expand into Greater China and Southeast Asia. Children watch a Keeko robot (pictured) at the Yiswind Institute of Multicultural Education in Beijing, where the intelligent machines are telling stories and challenging kids with logic problems.