Don t worry. That s not the sound of your 5-year-old talking with a stranger in her bedroom.
It s Barbie!
As the talking-toy trend continues unabated, with more and more toy-makers giving digital voice to their creations, Mattel is teaming up with ToyTalk to delight your daughter with a new talking friend named Hello Barbie.
She s Internet-connected, she s capable of learning from and adapting to you child s conversations, and she ll run you about 75 bucks, according to a post from the BBC:
The Barbie will use a speech-recognition platform developed by ToyTalk. A prototype of the doll was at the New York Toy Fair on 14 February, where a glut of smart toys were on display.
The number one request we hear from girls around the world is that they want to have a conversation with Barbie. Now, for the first time ever, Barbie can have a two-way conversation, said a spokeswoman for Mattel.
The Hello Barbie will be able to play interactive games and tell stories and jokes.
Jokes? Can t wait for that.
It will also listen to the child s conversation and adapt to it over time – so, for instance, if a child mentions that they like to dance, the doll may refer to this in a future chat.
The doll requires a Wi-Fi connection and can provide an hour s worth of playtime when fully charged.
A microphone, speaker and two tricolour LEDs will be embedded in the doll s necklace, while rechargeable batteries in its legs can be connected to an external wall-mounted charger.
No release date has yet been confirmed.
Hello Barbie joins an increasingly crowded playroom of talking toys, creating all sorts of intriguing and even worrisome scenarios. Imagine the cacophony that may result from several toys talking at once. Or talking to each other. Or being so absorbed by what the other toys are saying that they totally forget about your daughter.
Increasingly, the toy market is becoming saturated with smart versions of old favourites.
Back in November, the Vivid Toy group released Cayla, a doll that uses speech-recognition and Google s translation tools.
In January, security researcher Ken Munro discovered a vulnerability in its software, which allowed for it to be hacked to say things that might not be suitable for children.
Can t wait for that, either!
A start-up, now live on Kickstarter, is developing a line of smart toys powered by the IBM-developed supercomputer Watson.
The first range from Elemental Path will be a smart dinosaur that can chat with children, tell them jokes and answer a range of questions.
Credit: Anda Chu/The Daily Review
