Mattel Is Developing A Internet Connnected Barbie That Talks To Kids

American toy manufacturing company, Mattel has sought the help of ToyTalk, a start-up founded by PIXAR alum to build a new variant of its iconic doll, Barbie that will be able to make full length conversations with kids. Instead of speaking pre-programmed phrases, the Hello Barbie doll will be able to understand kids’ speech and reply appropriately. Hello Barbie will employ ToyTalk's speech recognition platform titled PullString that has been successfully implemented in the company’s interactive iPad apps. Mattel started developing the product owing to the requests from children who wanted a Barbie that could speak to them.

​
A prototype of Hello Barbie was showcased at the North American International Toy Fair in New York. The prototype is equipped with a microphone, speaker and two tricolour LEDs that are embedded in the doll's necklace. Hello Barbie requires a Wi-Fi connection to transmit the speech to cloud servers which process the data and generate answers. The team at ToyTalk will constantly update the software to ensure that the new Barbie is able to provide better answers everytime.The doll once fully charged will be able to entertain kids for up to an hour. The folks from #-Link-Snipped-# were able to see the doll in action (video embedded below) and found that it was able to pick up speech quite easily. Privacy enthusiasts will be interested in knowing that the doll does not have an always-on function and requires the user to press a button to activate the voice recognition feature.


Courtesy: #-Link-Snipped-#​
Just like Google Now, Cortana, or Siri, Hello Barbie keeps a record of your responses so that it can refer to them while answering future questions. It remembers a child’s interests and is able to advise them on their future career paths. Mattel has not confirmed a release date or price. <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-31502898" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Barbie doll will be internet connected to chat to kids - BBC News</a> has information that the doll is expected to retail at $75 (4,661 INR).

The Author’s Opinion:

While I appreciate the technology that goes behind Hello Barbie, one cannot help but be cautious about its implication on its target audience. Children are very impressionable and any errant reply from the doll could potentially affect children in the wrong way. At a time when children below the age of 13 are not allowed to open a Facebook account, they have access to an internet connected toy that listens and talks to them. Second, there is the privacy issue. Remember last week when we talked about the <a href="https://www.crazyengineers.com/threads/samsung-smart-tv-privacy-policy-reveals-its-eavesdropping-nature.78703">Samsung Smart TV Privacy Policy Reveals Its Eavesdropping Nature</a>. Now imagine a toy that stores recordings of your kids’ conversations. It’s pretty scary isn’t it? I would love to hear what the readers have to say about Hello Barbie. Let’s build an interesting and informative discussion in the comment section below.

Source: #-Link-Snipped-#