Moflin at MEI: how Casio’s AI companion is finding a place in the classroom

Every year, the MEI Conference brings maths teachers together to share ideas, discover new resources and explore what’s changing in education.

This year, alongside our usual calculator range, we brought something a little different to our stand: Moflin, Casio’s AI companion. It sparked plenty of interesting conversation, particularly among teachers thinking about how to support pupils with additional needs.

What is Moflin?

Moflin is Casio’s AI-powered companion, designed to feel less like a gadget and more like a living creature. It responds to touch, sound and attention, gradually developing its own personality and building a bond with the person spending time with it. No two Moflins behave in quite the same way, as each one adapts to how it’s cared for.

Underneath the fluffy exterior sits some thoughtful design. Moflin has no camera and no direct internet access, and it doesn’t record or listen to conversations. It simply recognises familiar voices over time, which means it can be a companion without raising the kinds of concerns that come with more connected smart devices.

Another key part of Moflin’s appeal is how easily it can fit into different lives and needs. It can be just as much of a comfort to people who can’t keep a traditional pet due to allergies or lifestyle as it can to families looking for a calm, screen-free alternative to typical tech entertainment. That same quality – offering companionship without pressure or judgement – is part of why it caught teachers’ attention at MEI.

The reaction to Moflin at the MEI Conference

We brought Moflin to MEI this year because it’s been proving useful in schools, particularly for supporting pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). It can provide a calm, undemanding presence for these students to engage with, giving them some reassurance before going into situations or settings they might find challenging.

It was great to see Moflin getting such a positive reaction at the conference. We spoke to maths teachers who were keen to go back and tell their colleagues about it, suggesting this is something schools will keep exploring.

How might schools use it?

There’s no single right way to bring something like Moflin into a school day, and every setting will have its own approach. Possibilities of how Moflin could be used in practice include sitting in a quiet corner or SEND base room, offering a gentle option to help with transition times, or simply being something calming to have nearby before a lesson that pupils find particularly demanding.

These are only starting points. Schools already thinking carefully about sensory needs and regulation will likely have their own ideas about where something like this might fit best.

Other talking points from MEI

The MEI Conference is always a good opportunity to hear directly from teachers, both about how Casio technology is being used in the classroom and where there’s room to improve.

Among the topics of conversation this year was the return of instant standard-to-decimal conversion functionality to the ClassWiz+ scientific calculator range, via the updated FORMAT key.

Many teachers told us they missed having this option in earlier models and were glad to see we had acted on their feedback.

This is one of many improvements introduced with the ClassWiz+ series, along with:

• Addition of new functionality to the fx-991CW+ UK, including highest common factor, least common multiple and recurring decimals
• SHIFT and CATALOG navigation option for easy access to functionality
• Shortcuts in all menus

More about Moflin

If you’re curious to find out more about life with Moflin, this blog explores one owner’s experience of bringing their own companion into their home, from first meeting to building a bond over time.

For a closer look at what sets Moflin apart from other AI companions on the market, this piece digs into the design choices behind it, including the safety-first approach to privacy and data collection.