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Chatty Tom Talking Bear From Tomy
Tomy is offering Chatty Tom, a new english-speaking robotic bear. Chatty Tom will come in two versions, one for adults and the other intended for young children (four years and up).
(From Tomy Chatty Tom)
Chatty Tom will have a 650 phrase vocabulary. The friendly little bot is only about eight inches tall. I can almost tell from Google's translation of their website that additional language phrase packs will be available - but probably only for PCs.
There are several examples of talking robotic teddy bears, both from the 1960's. The first is the Teddy Bear robot, from the story 1965 story I Always Do What Teddy Says, by Harry Harrison:
"Let me go... let me go!" the teddy bear said with a hopeless shrill."...This is only a machine." with a quick slash, he opened the fabric over the seam seal and touched it: the plastic-fur back gaped open like a mouth.
...There was a click and the toy went limp.
In Super Toys Last All Summer Long, a 1969 story by Brian Aldiss, the robotic bear has a fairly active role:
"Come down here, Teddy!"She stood impassively, watching the little furry figure as it climbed down from step to step on its stubby limbs. When it reached the bottom, she picked it up and carried it into the living room. It lay unmoving in her arms, staring up at her. She could feel just the slightest vibration from its motor.
(Read more about teddy bear robot from Supertoys Last All Summer Long)
This little toy bear was very nicely implemented in AI, the recent Spielberg/Kubrick film made from the story.
(Teddy from the movie A.I.)
The first talking teddy bear (in real life), was Teddy Ruxpin, which came out in 1985. Apparently, a story-telling version of Teddy Ruxpin (using digital chips rther than cassette tapes) will come out this fall.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 10/1/2005)
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