As Disney’s newly awarded US patent 10,981,073 (April 20th, 2021) points out : “Toys and characters often have prerecorded phrases or audio effects that can be played to increase the immersion for users who interact with the character. For example, some toys have pull strings, push buttons, and the like that triggers one or more […]
Tag: toys
Recent progress in ‘My Little Pony’ studies
“This dossier represents a selection of papers presented at the first academic conference on My Little Pony (MLP), held at the University of Brighton in June 2014.” Of the papers generated as a result of the conference, a small selection are published in the Journal of Popular Television, Volume 3, Number 1. They are: ● From […]
Neuromarketing for dogs
Developing successful products aimed at dogs might not always be as straightforward as it may seem : “Because dogs cannot speak, traditional behavioral methods may be inadequate to reveal what dogs like or dislike.” But, according to the website of Dog Star Technologies LLC, newly developed methods involving fMRI scanning (combined with machine-learning algorithms) might […]
Towards a LEGO Minifigures® taxonomy
Dr. Christoph Bartneck, at the University of Canterbury HITLab NZ, not only investigates whether robot cats and dogs can be programmed to convincingly display ‘pain’, he also develops taxonomical models for LEGO Minifigures® – of which there are now more than 4000 (and 3600 are listed in his book ‘The Unofficial LEGO Minifigure® Catalog’ He […]
Reproduction: Some parts are optional
Lisa Hix, in Collectors Weekly, muses about old science toys for children (HT Mo Costandi). Among them are a romantic-only-in-a-vaguely-scientific way: Visible Man and Woman made quite a pair. Visible Man, like his less transparent brethren, the Ken doll, lacked external genitalia. Visible Woman, on the other hand, was quite sexy on the Renwal box, with […]
Furby® surgery
Advisory note: Those of a sensitive disposition towards Furby® may find some of the images in the following thesis disturbing. Researchers at the Czech Technical University in Prague have been modding Furby®. The video above shows progress in the project, which enables Furby® not only to ‘recognise’ voice commands, but also to respond in an […]