OLPC XO-3 to be airdropped on remote villages
updated 09:30 pm EDT, Wed November 2, 2011
Organization to take hands-off approach
The One Laptop per Child project will reportedly include plans to airdrop the XO-3 tablet onto remote villages. Organization chairman Nicholas Negroponte told Open Mobile conference attendees the tablets would be distributed in some areas using a hands-off approach. Researchers would wait an entire year before returning to the villages to study the outcome.
“We will literally take tablets and drop them out of helicopters,” Negroponte said, according to quotes posted by TechCrunch.
The OLPC Association earlier this year announced that some of the tablets would be able to integrate solar chargers, satellite Internet and ports to attach external keyboards. Other features include a camera, microphone, USB 2.0 ports and a headphone jack. The organization has debated different display technologies, however the production model may utilize a Pixel Qi transreflective panel.
Aside from the hardware features, each tablet is expected to ship with 100 different e-books to help improve reading skills. Hundreds of thousands of the devices are already said to be used by Peruvian children to teach their parents to read.
The XO-3 is expected to formally launch late in 2012 for less than $100 per unit.
