Wednesday, April 11, 2007

I've been busy at work all week, and everyone is just crabbing about the weather. Here's something to make you smile. And the kicker is this isn't merely a variation on the hula-dancing pop can.

These scientist guys have designed a robot named Keepon. Keepon isn't just a toy: he was built in order "to help teach social interaction to children by modeling certain nonverbal social cues -- eye contact, awareness, excitement, curiosity". (Issac @ ALOTT5MA)

Watch the action and reaction of Keepon as he bounces with excitement or tilts his head in curiosity, and imagine it interacting with a baby. It's designed to facilitate "dance-oriented nonverbal play" with children, meaning it uses body language to show emotion or indicate attention, as shown here:


YouTube: Keepon interacts

...and the little guy has moves, as he bops out to Spoon's "I Turn My Camera On"


YouTube: Keepon Dancing to Spoon


More on this fascinating little guy, including the specs:

BeatBots: Socially Rhythmic Robots

Marek Michalowski & Hideki Kozima
with Phil Michel, Selma Sabanovic, Reid Simmons

A dancing robot for rhythmic social interaction.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

he's pretty cute, much better than putting a kiss tape in the teddy rukspin doll.

Unknown said...

Some other comments on other websites made me think how wonderful something like this would be for a baby, as they learn to develop motor-skills and self awareness by seeing something react to their own movements. It's like when babies see themselves in front of a mirror. Keepon has cameras in his eyes and a microphone in the nose, so it reacts to movement and noise.

Unknown said...

BTW A Kiss tape in a Teddy Ruxpin? Nice. Did you lose your Black Sabbath Yells Your Child To Sleep tape?

Anonymous said...

For your info - the kiss tape in the teddy Ruxpin was in a cartoon strip on garfield and it has stuck with me all these years

We only have Rockabye Baby - lullaby renditions of Nirvana - given to her from her uncle James.