More robot news from Japan: Students in one Tokyo school are being taught by a robot named — no, not Ms. Roboto — Saya.

From the San Francisco Chronicle:

She — or i t — is multilingual, can organize set tasks for pupils, call the roll and get angry when the kids misbehave. In fact, she can express six basic human emotions: surprise, fear, disgust, anger, sadness and happiness.

The humanoid is the result of 15 years of research by science professor Hiroshi Kobayashi at the University of Tokyo. Kobayashi originally developed Saya to replace office workers such as secretaries and receptionists in an effort to reduce expenses while maintaining some sort of “human” interaction.

The Japanese government is pouring $35 million into android science. Why the push? In seven years, one in four Japanese will be over 65, which means the workforce is declining, pushing up wage costs for businesses and making recruitment difficult.

With all the poking and prodding, these kids are never gonna get any work done. Stop pinching my face and pay attention!