“Bingo asked me to rub his feet. When I scratched his nose. He said, ‘Not there, rub my feet!’ “

Bingo Bear

An interactive plush toy by Playskool/Hasbro for ages 3 and up.

Hasbro provided the original concept to our consulting office with specific requirements to develop the speech pattern, create pressure sensitive switches to communicate with a Texas Instruments voice chip, and improve the speaker’s sound quality.

A child inserted a hand into the toy’s back like a hand puppet. Manipulating the mouth would compress a switch to signal the processor. One of 105 random phrases would be delivered to stimulate interaction. Bingo could ask for a hug and respond appropriately after a hug was detected, or repeat the loop if a different action was taken. A child would respond to a communication prompt by touching a contact point on the toy that sent a signal to the processor. Pressure-sensitive switches were developed to receive minimal contact pressure from a child. The sound quality was improved on a bench test but limited slightly by the plush product fabric in manufacturing.

SERVICES

• Collaborate with other designers, an engineer, and an early childhood educator
• Develop a 400 word vocabulary, speech pattern, and create a flow chart for the interactive dialog
• Create pressure-sensitive switches and improve the speaker enclosure for better sound transmission

Produced under contract for Marvin Glass and Associates