Robot teacher makes debut at Japanese school

In what could be a harbinger of the future, elementary-school 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.

She — or it — is multilingual, can organize 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.

The robot was originally developed for companies who want to cut costs by replacing office workers such as secretaries and receptionists with an android that had a range of human expressions.