Use digital technology long enough and you start to become dependent upon it for such mundane tasks as spell checking. That means when you pick up a garden variety ballpoint pen you’re back in dictionary and “I before E except after C” territory. Like LiveScribe, the creators of the Lernstift digital pen hope to bring handwriting into the 21st century by having the pen vibrate to indicate when the writer makes spelling and grammatical errors or exhibits poor penmanship.
Currently under development, the Lernstift (German for "learning pen") is powered by Linux and contains €50 to €80 (US$68 to US$109) worth of smartphone electronics in a thermoplastic or aluminum body. It uses motion sensors to trace movements and detect errors. If a mistake is found, the pen vibrates to alert the writer.
The Lernstift pen operates in two modes. In Calligraphy Mode, it warns of mistakes in penmanship, while in Orthography Mode it detects spelling and grammatical errors – vibrating once for the former and twice for the latter. The sensors allow the pen to recognize writing even in the air so it can be used to write text messages without a writing surface. But for the less adventurous, it has a standard ballpoint pen inside.
The Lernstift is in two generations of development. The first generation, which is due for a release mid-2013, the pen will be equipped with motion sensors and a word recognition system. Meanwhile, the second generation, which is slated for early 2014, will have a pressure sensor added. Its function is to help children understand the proper way to hold and press a pen. Press too hard and the pen vibrates. Another area of development is a network module that will allow the pen to connect to Wi-Fi to allow it to share data.
The company is currently seeking investors and says that the Lernstift will be available in August of this year.
The video in German below shows off the Lernstift prototype.
Source: Lernstift via Wired UK
I assume this was invented by someone who has never lost a pen. It is one thing losing a cheap and cheerful one, as I do all too frequently , but this item, whilst quite cheerful, will be far from cheap.
An alternative use, however, would be indoor skywriting. With all those movement sensors it is half-way there already. All it lacks is a smoke canister and a miniature quadcopter to carry it. It would spawn a whole new field of advertising. Imagine a boring old Powerpoint presentation interspersed with a fleet of quadcopters zooming into the room and writing in the air just in front of the screen the take home points that the attendees are meant to absorb, all in different colours, of course!
As far as some of the comments (above) go, maybe each user could just download his exact language (e.g., American English) so the pen could hold the correct spelling/grammar rules. Regarding cost, I don't see why it couldn't end up being in the US $10-$20 range once it's rolled out in its final form; it's not like the components would be very expensive.
I personally like the idea of the Lernstift a lot and already gave my support and the support of my company (the online training marketplace http://tutorize.com). We hope to be able to cooperate with the lernstift to provide teachers ways to for example supervise the homework better.
SEE: http://bit.ly/X6gZzR
Other states are following suit.
Huge mistake.