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The Amazing Amanda Doll

by Hsien-Hsien Lei on August 26th, 2005

The New York Times has a story about Amazing Amanda, A Doll That Can Recognize Voices, Identify Objects and Show Emotion.

Radio frequency tags in Amanda’s accessories - including toy food, potty and clothing - wirelessly inform the doll of what it is interacting with. For instance, if the doll asks for a spoon of peas and it is given its plastic cookie, it will gently admonish its caregiver, telling her that a cookie is not peas.

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One prerelease model of Amazing Amanda, once it was activated (by flipping the toy’s only visible switch hidden high on its back and beneath its clothing), woke with a yawn, slowly opened its eyes and started asking questions in a cutesy, almost cartoonlike girl’s voice.

What the doll is actually doing, Ms. Shackelford said, is “voice printing” the primary user’s voice pattern. By asking a child to repeat “Amanda” several times, the doll quickly comes to recognize and store in its electronic memory that child’s voice, and only that child’s voice, as its “mommy.” Other voices are greeted with Amanda’s cautionary proclamation, “You don’t sound like Mommy.”

The NY Times says it represents an “evolutionary leap” from interactive dolls of the past, but I think it represents an evolutionary leap from cute to very creepy. But then again, I’ve always preferred microscopes and lab kits over dolls.

Update: Don’t forget to check out the accessory packs!

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POSTED IN: Children's Toys