Lernstift – A pen that vibrates to a spelling mistake

As children we all needed feedback from our teachers to correct our spelling mistakes but now a pen can do it for you. A pair of German inventors have developed Lernstift, a learning pen that'll help you improving your spelling and handwriting with the power of vibration. Packing a stripped-down Linux system with a non-optical motion sensor, it'll work out what you're writing and buzz you if it thinks you've made a mistake.

The pen has two modes – Calligraphy mode and Orthography mode. In Calligraphy Mode the pen vibrates once if a letter is written wrong or illegibly. In Orthography Mode the pen vibrates once for a misspelled word and twice to point out grammatical errors in a sentence.

Lernstift works differently. The pen recognizes words, gestures and symbols, even if you only "draw them in the air". This opens up all new possibilities for whiteboarding applications.

With its exchangeable writing system the pen can be easily turned into a pencil, fountain pen or ballpoint.