One laptop per child (OLPC) is a non-profit organization, located in Delaware, USA. The institution was founded to design, manufacture and distribute laptops for each child in developing countries. Their goal is to offer knowledge through modern education methods.
The XO, developed by OLPC, is a model targeted at children, taking into account study and leisure tools, besides internet access. Were it not enough, the portable computer has been designed to adapt to children’s learning environments: as in some countries classes are outdoors, the XO’s screen is as readable as paper even against sunlight. In addition, an XO is ready to automatically connect to another, forming a LAN. This makes a single internet access point enough to be shared in a community of XO users.
According to OLPC, their objective is not merely to take laptops to developing countries, but education, so that all other lacking factors (such as nutrition, hygiene and housing) improve as a consequence. Furthermore, the device can be used in locations where power grids do not reach, since they are designed to have highly efficient energy consumption and could be charged by alternative energy sources such as an ethanol-powered generator fueled with bioethanol produced in a Green Micro Distillery.
Distribution started in 2007 and in 2011 more than 2 million laptops have been delivered to children over the world. OLPC highlights that it is important for each child to have their own XO and be allowed to use it at home, as well as at school. “One does not think of community pencils — kids have their own. They are tools to think with, sufficiently inexpensive to be used for work and play, drawing, writing, and mathematics. A computer can be the same, but far more powerful”, says OLPC on their official website.