Toy story: Toys that talk are no longer just a fictional story
Voice assistant-enabled toys
Toys offer a different level of interactivity today compared to what they used to offer 15 or 20 years ago. After the emergence of walking toys controlled by remote controls and, more recently mobile applications, here comes the generation of toys that can talk and interact with children.
Hybrid future of learning and play
Many companies have recently begun to explore how they can integrate voice assistants into different products and thus, extend their functionality by making them “smart.” According to recent statistics, the number of smart speakers purchased worldwide reached 320 million in 2020. The idea that so many people use voice assistants daily is encouraging technology and toy-making companies to design “smart” products that can be used by children.
Voice assistant-enabled toys
KidKraft, an American toy-making company, has recently developed an interactive 2-in-1 Kitchen & Market playset that integrates Amazon Alexa via Amazon Echo. Children can play with various wooden objects included in the set, such as play food, utensils, and dishes. The product’s unique feature is its level of interactivity — all the special accessories contain RFID chips that can be used to trigger various sound effects. The chips even trigger Alexa to share helpful guidance if the child is trying to prepare a specific dish. According to KidKraft, there are more than 700 possible commands and responses that kids can experience.
Book reading assistant
Another innovative product for children has recently been launched by a South Korean technology company, Naver Corporation, in collaboration with Line Corporation. Clova Lamp is an AI-powered interactive lamp and a speaker that can read physical books to children. The device uses image recognition and optical character recognition (OCR) to detect text and read it out loud. It is also a standard voice assistant that can respond to any of your questions, such as the current weather or the percentage of fine dust particles in the air. Additionally, with the text recognition technology, you can use Clova as a text translator by pointing at a word and asking the assistant to translate it. This feature makes it a great advantage if either your child or you are reading a book in a foreign language.
Naver’s voice assistant performs better in numerous usability tests than other voice assistants used in South Korea. This makes the product even more exciting and worth testing. Unfortunately, this product does not support English, and it is available only in South Korea at the moment. We hope that Naver will continue working on it and that they will reach other markets soon.
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