Smart toy
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| - | A '''smart toy''' is a ''toy'' which effectively has its own intelligence by virtue of on-board electronics which enable the toy to learn, behave according to a pattern, and to alter its actions depending upon environmental stimuli. A modern smart toy typically has electronics consisting of one or more microprocessors, volatile and/or non-volatile memory, storage devices, and various forms of input - output devices. It may be networked together with other smart toys or a personal computer in order to enhance its ''play value'' or educational features. Generally, the smart toy may be controlled by software which is embedded in firmware or else loaded from an input device such as a flash drive, memory stick or CD-ROM. Smart toys frequently have extensive multimedia capabilities, and these can be utilized to produce a realistic, animated, simulated personality for the toy. Some commercial examples of smart toys are ''Amazing Amanda'', ''Furby'',''I-Dog'', and ''Aibo''. | + | A '''smart toy''' is a ''toy'' which effectively has its own intelligence by virtue of on-board electronics which enable the toy to learn, behave according to a pattern, and alter its actions depending upon environmental stimuli. A modern smart toy typically has electronics consisting of one or more microprocessors, volatile and/or non-volatile memory, storage devices, and various forms of input - output devices. It may be networked together with other smart toys or a personal computer in order to enhance its ''play value'' or educational features. Generally, the smart toy may be controlled by software which is embedded in firmware or else loaded from an input device such as a flash drive, memory stick or CD-ROM. Smart toys frequently have extensive multimedia capabilities, and these can be utilized to produce a realistic, animated, simulated personality for the toy. Some commercial examples of smart toys are ''Amazing Amanda'', ''Furby'',''I-Dog'', and ''Aibo''. |
Revision as of 20:17, 19 October 2007
A smart toy is a toy which effectively has its own intelligence by virtue of on-board electronics which enable the toy to learn, behave according to a pattern, and alter its actions depending upon environmental stimuli. A modern smart toy typically has electronics consisting of one or more microprocessors, volatile and/or non-volatile memory, storage devices, and various forms of input - output devices. It may be networked together with other smart toys or a personal computer in order to enhance its play value or educational features. Generally, the smart toy may be controlled by software which is embedded in firmware or else loaded from an input device such as a flash drive, memory stick or CD-ROM. Smart toys frequently have extensive multimedia capabilities, and these can be utilized to produce a realistic, animated, simulated personality for the toy. Some commercial examples of smart toys are Amazing Amanda, Furby,I-Dog, and Aibo.
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Common Confusions
Smart toys are frequently confused with toys that claim to make children who play with them smarter. Examples are educational toys that may or may not provide on-board intelligence features. A toy which merely contains a media player for telling the child a story does not qualify as a smart toy even if the player contains its own microprocessor. What best distinguishes a smart toy is the way the on-board intelligence is holistically integrated into the play experience to create simulated human-like intelligence or the appearance thereof.
History of smart toys
Modern smart toys have their roots in clockworks such as the cuckoo clocks of the eighteenth and nineteenth century, music boxes of the nineteenth century, and the audio-animatronics of Disney from the twentieth. Perhaps the biggest early contribution is from nineteenth century novelty and toy makers who made atomatons such as Vaucanson's mechanical duck, von Kempelen's The Turk, and the Silver Swan. All pre-twentieth-century precursors had in common that they were mechanical contrivances. By the mid-twentieth century toys featuring built-in media players became common. For example, Mattel introduced a variety of dolls in the 1960's and 1970's that used a pull string activated talking device to make the dolls "talk" such as the talking Crissy doll and Chatty Cathy.
However, it remained until the introduction of the microprocessors in the mid-1970s for smart toys to come into their own. Texas Instrument's Speak & Spell which came on the market in the late 1970s was one of the first full-featured smart toys. The device is similar to a very limited lap-top with a LED read-out. It is used for spelling games and guessing a "mystery code." It speaks and makes a variety of interesting sound effects. Another early example is Teddy Ruxpin, a robotic teddy bear which came out in the 1980s. It reads childrens' stories via a recording device built into its back and swivels its eyes and mouth.
Even the earliest toys from the nineteenth century on have in common with thier modern-day smart toy counterparts that they appear to be sentient and life-like at least to the extent possible using the technology available at the time.
The development of smart toys received a major boost in 1998 when semi-conductor manufacturer, Intel, and toy maker, Mattel, Inc. entered into a joint venture to open a Smart Toy Lab in Portland, Oregon. This led to products that were marketed under the Intel Play brand. The first product in the line was the QX3 Computer Microscope.
Controvercies regarding smart toys
Widespread commercialization of smart toys is mainly a 21st century phenomenon, and as they have gained acceptance in the marketplace, controversy has been brewing. One of the chief criticisms has been that despite their often being technical marvels, many smart toys have only limited play value. In short, often these toys neither involve the child in play activity nor do they stimulate his or her imagination. Consequently, regardless of their attractiveness on the store shelf, children quickly tire of them after one or two play sessions, and the parents' investment is largely wasted. Stevanne Auerbach, in her book Smart Play--Smart Toys introduces the notion of Play Quatient or simply PQ.
Auerbach criticizes smart toys for often having low PQs. PQ is a rating system based upon a weighted average constructed from a comprehensive list of play value attributes. Playthings with higher PQs are desirable from the standpoint of stimulating the child's imagination, creativity, and inquisitiveness. Generally, children choose to play with these products over and over again. Those toys with low PQs are quickly set aside. The child finds them boring and uninteresting.
Many child development experts prefer open-ended toys such as construction toys, blocks, dolls, etc. over smart toys. For example, a cardboard box that the child turns into a pretend play house will be played with continuously by the child for many hours whereas an expensive smart toy can quickly exhaust the child's interest once its novelty has worn off.
Jillian Trezise typifies the sentiment of many child development experts and educators towards smart toys, "...if kids can't take their expensive toys to the sandpit or open them up to see how they work, then they don't provide much educational value. All they do is entertain and they don't hold young people's attention for very long."
Another implicit concern about smart toys is that even when they hold the child's attention they will be so entertaining that parents will be tempted to turn over some of the child-rearing to these smart toys. Thus, children will be deprived of needed parental attention. In other words, because of their strong multi-media capabilities children will watch the presentations the smart toy provides and be entertained, but will not really play with the devices nor be otherwise engaged by it.
Judy Shackelford, a toy industry veteran, has a more positive view regarding smart toys. She cautions that children may even be deprived if they are not exposed to them. She sees smart toys as part of the surrounding environment that children will need to adapt to as they mature. Should they not be given access to these kinds of toys, they may be less well adapted to thrive and benefit as technology evolves.
Smart toy advocates also point to research indicating that children learn more effectively with good interactive software. This seems to support the idea that smart toys may have many educational benefits as well
The smart toy industry
According to Jeffery H. Goldstein, et. al. (Toys, Games and Media) the greatest impediment to the further development of the smart toy industry is the lack of development of artificial intelligence and speech recognition. At their present stage of evolution smart toys really can't learn so they are limited to predefined actions and speech. Present artificial intelligence capabilities are too expensive to implement in a toy, but this will change as the cost of computational power and speed comes down in price. Eventually this will result in cheaper technology, enhanced functionality, and a richer play experience. [1]
According to figures from the NPD Group, at the end of 1999 the smart toy segment made up 2.5 percent of the $23bn toy market. [2]
The smart toy industry grew out of several other product categories, which include children's software, electronic toys, and video games. The According to a 2001 Forrester Research study, the smart toy segment was projected to grow to more than $2 billion by the year 2003 . Factors enhancing the growth of the smart toy segment include the greatly more sophisticated tastes of children today as well as the spread of home PCs. (Quoted in Toys, Games, and Media by Jeffrey H. Goldstein, wr. L.).
