Google Patents Eerie, Internet-Connected Stuffed Animals for Kids
Source: Slate
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Between targeted advertising and tailored search results, you may feel like Google knows too much about you already. This new patent isnt going to help. Filed in 2012 and published last week, interactive electronics that support social cues are devices that react to the voice commands and movements of children. Theyre essentially toysbut super-creepy ones.
The idea behind the patent is to coordinate Internet of Things devices like smart thermostats and TVs using an approachable figurine. An anthropomorphic device, perhaps in the form factor of a doll or toy, may be configured to control one or more media devices, the patent explains. When triggered by a voice command or movement, the anthropomorphic device may aim its gaze at the source of the social cue.
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This type of product isnt unprecedented. There are already personal assistants that are always on, like the Amazon Echo, and interactive social devices for the home, like Jibo the family robot. But Google sure knows how to write a weird patent:
The anthropomorphic device may be a doll or toy that resembles a human, an animal, a mythical creature, or an inanimate object. The anthropomorphic device may have a head (or a body part resembling a head) with objects representing eyes, ears, and a mouth. ... By making eye contact with the user, the user is presented with a familiar form of social interaction in which two parties look at each other while communicating.
Read more: http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2015/05/26/google_x_patents_internet_of_things_toys_for_kids.html
I'm trying to decide if this would have helped or hindered Josh Duggar.
Both?
Creepy, Google. Creepy.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)Gregorian
(23,867 posts)They probably think they're Dr. Eldon Tyrell in their lab on their campus.
NBachers
(17,083 posts)"Mommy's mean - go get Mommy!"
"It's all Billy's fault - beat up Billy for me!"
"Make them sorry for what they did to me!"
djean111
(14,255 posts)"The anthropomorphic device may have a head (or a body part resembling a head) with objects representing eyes, ears, and a mouth. ... By making eye contact with the user, the user is presented with a familiar form of social interaction in which two parties look at each other while communicating."
I thought Teddy Ruxpin was creepy. This is magnitudes worse.
kentauros
(29,414 posts)Of course, these toys will become the basis for modern horror movies now
Blue_Adept
(6,393 posts)You see a lot of things where they're adapting thanks to the use of ipads and other technology that helps them socialize and interact and learn in ways that they simply can't with other people.
cannabis_flower
(3,764 posts)they would be marketing them as nanny-cams. So parents can see if the babysitter is doing a good job.
PersonNumber503602
(1,134 posts)The head moving to stay fixed on you might give it away. Then even more so when it gets up and follows you into the other room.