So here's the short of it, 
I met NAO today. 

And here's the long.

NAO (pronounced NOW) came to our staff meeting today.  "He" brought his human along since of course he's not allowed to drive.  We had about a 30 minute demonstration of all the things this fellow can do.  I'm quite impressed!

He won the Hall of Fame award as the best educational robot of the year. He's got some real world educational experience behind him working with students who have autism.  But I can imagine lots of educational applications for him. And he was loads of fun to watch.

I'm excited that he's Open Source.  He's compatible with PC, Apple, and Linox.  He's got really simple ways of programming that very young students can use, (some basic functions are programmed and can be "strung together") - he can also be programmed using C++ - in other words someone who knows how to program, can program new functions which can then be used in the more simple programming option! He speaks, he dances, he reads, and oh my! he entertains.

Here's the link to the company that makes NAO.  And here's a selection of videos that you can view to watch him in action.  So - go meet my friend.  For those of you who are young enough - you'll probably own one of his cousins one of these days!