Meet Hello Barbie

Barbie is an ideal toy, but, as you know, there is no limit to perfection. This was proved by the famous children's brand Mattel , which equipped the doll with high technology.

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Mattel designs Barbie  dolls  in El Segundo, California


"Oh, I thought you knew ..." says Barbie. "My full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts."

 

Now Barbie will be able to listen to her owner, then record the speech and send the words to the server, where they will be processed. This will allow the toy to learn how to answer questions.



Erica Lindbeck, voice recording for Hello Barbie

 

The creation of Hello Barbie was attended by ToyTalk, an American company . Over $ 31 million was spent on innovative development.



ToyTalk: Nick Pelczar, Danielle Frimer, Dan Clegg and Sarah Wulfeck record conversations for Hello Barbie.

 

The toy can connect to the Internet via Wi-Fi, and is also equipped with a microphone, speaker, built-in mini-computer with a battery that runs without charge for an hour.



The doll has a button on the belt, pressing which “wakes up” it and prepares for communication. Each child's question will be recorded , encoded, and then transmitted in encrypted form to the ToyTalk server. Records are processed by a special program, due to which Barbie recognizes speech and can give the best answer. Interest from the child in specific issues will allow the toy to identify the best topics for communication.



There is one catch: all transmitted data will be saved on the ToyTalk server, and therefore will become available to third-party organizations. How long they can be stored is also not yet known.

The description of the brand’s privacy policy states that the doll will allow you to take photos and videos, use a number of applications.  

In addition, the recorded content can be used by a development service that can test and then improve speech recognition technologies, artificial intelligence algorithms.

This is necessary because the child’s speech is special. As we know, children build their sentences in a chaotic manner, and also have a higher voice timbre.

If parents decide to please their child with a similar toy, then they should be given preliminary consent to the conditions of the developer.