Asus' next Eee product will ban a 'droid running 'Droid, it has been claimed.

Called the Eee Bot, it'll be an education-centric automaton designed to interact with kids. It will be controlled by software derived from Google's open source Android OS, PCWorld reports.

Don't expect the device to appear any time soon, though. Apparently, it'll be two years before the Eee Bot is ready to go into production, and then only on what's described as a trial basis.

That timeframe suggests that the Eee Bot - for which there are no other details at present - will be more sophisticated that the basic Turtle-style droids used in schools today to help teach kids the basics behind programming and logic.

Development of the 'droid, which is being driven by the Taiwanese government, will centre on equipping it with advanced abilities to interact with people - voice synthesis and recognition, presumably - the ability to see and to use location data to help it navigate around home and class furniture, kids, teachers and so on. ®