I-Slate, Solar-Powered Tablet, Could Help Classrooms In India

From EarthTechling's Kristy Hessman:

Inventors are currently working on a high-tech learning tool that can be powered by solar energy for use in Indian classrooms without electricity. The i-slate is an electronic tablet being developed by researchers from Rice University in Houston, Texas and researchers from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore.

The first round of I-slates will be pre-loaded with lessons for mathematics, science and social studies, according to Rice researchers. Developers in Switzerland, Singapore and the U.S. are creating the first production version of the low-power computer chip. Solar-powered I-slates containing the new chips are due for production in mid-2012.

The idea for the power-saving educational tablet came about in 2009 when a team from Rice and NTU began working with the Indian nonprofit Villages for Development and Learning Foundation to test I-slate prototypes. Earlier this year, researchers examined whether the I-slate helped students’ improve in mathematics and found that the tool did in fact help improve learning.

To use the I-slate, students use a stylus to tap and write out mathematics problems on the device. They get immediate feedback about correct and incorrect answers. When answers are incorrect, the machine gives hints and tips about how to correct mistakes.

Comments

[Dhiya]

10:23 AM on 10/12/2011

Useful info and excellent design you got here! I wish to thank you for sharing your ideas and putting the time into the stuff you publish! Nice job! .

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[Edna Crabapple]

05:35 PM on 10/11/2011

"I-Slate"?
I smell a lawsuit brewing...
They'd better rename this one to "SunSlate" or or "LightPad" or something like that before Apple drags them into court for copyright infringement.
That's what Apple seems to do best now- sue people.
Maybe they should get back to actually inventing and innovating.
That being said, I'd love one of these... :-)

[Neitherpartieslapdog]

09:36 PM on 10/11/2011

Especially since Sony had the copyright on the term iphone about 5 years before Apple finagled it from them, somehow. Can you say bully.

[NerdyStudent]

10:25 AM on 10/12/2011

They're patent trolls through and through. They've got it down to an art now.

[gemini68]

05:06 PM on 10/11/2011

What if its a cloudy day? Just kidding.

[rpr]

04:53 PM on 10/11/2011

Very cool. We'll all need these once the grid fails :)
Next we need mesh networking and multi TB Memristor storage added so we can live with an intermittent backbone.

[ballbag]

04:17 PM on 10/11/2011

That's a pretty cool piece of kit! I wish more people were solar aware in the West. It's not even that hard to get your own home rigged up with solar panels. There are plenty of guides out there to help. Here for example, is an impartial review site listing some of them: http://www.diyenergyathome.com/index.php/category/home-energy-guides/

[NerdyStudent]

10:25 AM on 10/12/2011

I have a monthly budget of about 600$. Can you put solar on my small house?

[ballbag]

10:39 AM on 10/12/2011

You can build your own panels for under $200, but it really all depends on where you live, what level of sunlight you receive - solar altitude etc. You can calculate all of these things as shown in those guides I mentioned. I just love the idea of being independent of the greed energy companies!