Topic: Toddler Toy

My wife and I have been looking for something like this:

http://www.dolcideleria.com/journal/200 … overed.php

. . . for our 16-month-old.  So far the Chumby is looking like the most promising option, though we'll definitely be interested in rigging up a battery-power modification so we don't have to deal with the power-cord/child combination. 

Anyone else interested in the Chumby from this angle? Anyone making toddler-friendly widgets?

Re: Toddler Toy

Not 100% on this...chumby has a pop out screen so you can access the batteries/wifi dongle etc...you would first have to lock in the screen so little fingers wouldn't get in. It also gets quite hot in behind the screen. You would definitely need to make it battery based....though I'm not sure how safe you could consider Li-ion batteries at the minute! Then somehow it would need  to be completely cased in so fingers couldn't get in the back bit. I'm not sure the screen would take the kind of jabbing a toddler would give it. Then there are the widgets...someone may create widgets like this but I doubt that chumby could make them available through the chumby network as the device would not meet safety standards as a child's toy.

Just my 2 cents...maybe a kiddie's version is something to put on the chumby "maybe" list for the long-term future....

Re: Toddler Toy

Hmm... Well, you could always have a sealed giant Chumby.

The power situation shouldn't be a problem. Toothbrushes can charge without actually having a contact, so why not a Chumby? You can still add stuff to it wirelessly, but you just wouldn't be able to actually plug anything in. The "Chumby Jr." should also be wirelessly linked to a standard adult Chumby, so possibly as to provide an intercom, and a video feed. If not, you can always just see what your toddler has been up to. It would be really keen if you added some sort of mechanism to make the Chumby roll on command.

My 2 cents.

Re: Toddler Toy

Yeah - the current chumby is most decidedly *not* a toy, especially for a young child or infant.  The display is glass and quite fragile, and the electronics get hot.

I have a chumby in our nursury (my wife and I have a 6-week old), but it simply acts as a clock for those late night feedings and diaper changes.  It's not there as a "busybox" or crib toy.

Re: Toddler Toy

Congratulations on the new bub Duane!

Re: Toddler Toy

Yes, this reminds me of the electronics in the Transhuman Space books. These things called "Kindercomps". Here is part of the article:

In most Fifth Wave homes, every child receives a kindercomp no later than his first birthday. The cybershell form of the kindercomp varies greatly, from a simple flat "slate" weighing a pound or so, up to a cybershell pet weighing 20 lbs. or more. Built into the kindercomp is a coniputer of Complexity 5-7, running an AI operating sysstem. The lower-end kindercomps will run a NAI-5 or NAI- system, which will usually be teleoperated by the household LAI when interacting closely with the child. More advanced models run a LAI-6 or LAI-7 system, capable of independently learning the child's behavior patterns and acting in response.

The kindercomp is a companion, babysitter, and constant teacher. As soon as it is "attached" to a child, it begins to develop teaching methods suited for him alone. For an infant or toddler, it will offer games and stories designed to develop coordination and cognitive skills. Older children will learn literacy and numeracy from their kindercomps, then the basics of history, literature, and the sciences. Meanwhile, the kindercomp provides companionship when needed, helps the parents to teach good social behavior, and monitors the child's physical well-being.

The Kindercomp Generation
From time to time, the kindercomp's AI will be transferred into new cybershells, each one suitable for an older child. Finally, the AI is likely to be the operating system for the adolescent's first wearable assistant or virtual interface implant. By this time, AI and child have grown up together and are effective partners in life. The relationship between an adult and his childhood AI companion is often more intimate than any he forms with other human beings. Such relationships are especially common among the Transhuman Generation (p. 29), the first for whom kindercomps were cheap and effective enough to be found in almost every home in the Fifth Wave nations.

The widespread use of kindercomps (along with other technologies designed to help nurture and teach children) has effectively put an end to state-sponsored education in the Fifth Wave societies. Children are no longer warehoused during the day in state-run schools. Instead, they remain in their own homes, receiving personal attention from their parents and the household appliances. The state's remaining role is to enforce minimal standards in childhood education. How this is done varies from country to country; most nations require annual or semi-annual tests of scholastic accomplishment for all children, with state assistance offered to children who seem to be falling behind.

Re: Toddler Toy

Funny you should bring this up...I have a little one on the way and I was wondering how early it would be hooked on our screen culture. WebWorkerDaily had some people mentioning that they buy their 2 year olds kiddie computers to play with so they can pretend to be like mummy or daddy when they are trying to get some work done at home. Then I found this...

http://www.amazon.com/The-First-Years-L … B000I2Q09A

Why not get them hooked from birth? And I can hook it up to an MP3 player so I can get rid of that horrendous baby toy music they usually use!? Nice!!

Just to remind everyone...chumby is definitely not for the kiddies! Did you really want to share it anyway? wink

Re: Toddler Toy

On this note I'm kinda wondering what the target demographic for the Chumby is. It seems like the interface is more family (and generally user) friendly, as well as the entire stylization that you can do to it. On the other hand the philosophy of the chumby seems to be appealing to the college+ age group of hackers trying to make it better, faster, stronger, whatever else they do with it. I can see where the technology can be seen as something you'd give to a toddler (the squishy case, the cuddly mascot...) but it feels more like something you'd give an upper teen or adult. [As an aside and more rhetorical, do we even really want little kids to have access to computers at such a young age?]

Re: Toddler Toy

The marketing thrust for chumby twelve months ago seemed to be teens and hackers...two quite different groups. Some of your confusion might come from the fact that the alpha chumby was largely tested by hackers/techy-types, whereas the First 50 represent a more mainstream sample of the population.

Over the last 12 months, I've seen the strategy evolve through changes Chumby have made on their website. They have removed a picture of a teenage girl lounging on her bed with a chumby, for example. I think they are aiming for the broadest mainstream market possible, early teen and up, while not neglecting the hackers who are the ones who have the ability to turn an excellent product into an amazing product.

I think working on building and maintaining relationships between the two groups is going to be Chumby's next challenge...all the hacking in the world is great but if it is not communicated and diffused to mainstream users, you end up with silos of hackers and creative types who, while appreciated by their peers, become rapidly demotivated because their work is not appreciated by a wider audience

...with all my 2 cents, I think Steve might have enough capital to finance his next venture wink