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Mommy's Little Baby

 Baby doll that recogni(s)zes its 'mother'
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"Mommy's Little Baby" is a chip-controlled doll that comes with a proximity badge, perhaps hidden in a piece of toy jewelry that the child wears. When left alone (and powered on) after a while the doll will begin to cry and move slightly. The doll will only stop crying when the child wearing the proximity badge comes within range of the doll's internal sensor, thus 'recognizing' its mother and settling down. The range should be minimal so that the child would have to pick up and cradle the doll to trigger the sensor.

Pardon the stereotypical doll-girl-toy aspects of this.

[2nd anniv. repost]

—waugsqueke, Jan 15 2002

The limitations of lifelike dolls http://www.sptimes....ch_for_the_pe.shtml
The more "lifelike" the doll is, the more it stunts the child's play options, turning the device into a game with rules rather than a doll with no rules. [DrCurry, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]

Toys That Think, Kids Who Don't http://www.familyed...7-20699-0-1,00.html
"Radio Shack is selling Koby, the Interactive Bear, billed as "the smartest bear you'll ever meet!" He asks a child questions and "understands" the answers. He can even recognize and remember a child's name." [phoenix, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]

ToyQuest (almost exclusively Flash) http://www.manleyto...t.com/toyquest.html
Makers of Cindy Smart, a doll with voice-recognition. [phoenix, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]

Stepford Child http://www.wired.co...ve/10.08/cindy.html
A Wired Magazine article about Cindy Smart. [phoenix, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]

A propos of the Stepford Wives, I love the trailer for the remake http://www.apple.co...the_stepford_wives/
"Some assembly required." [DrCurry, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]

Baby Annabell http://www.google.c...bell+zapf+creations
Doll with a transponder in necklace worn by its 'mother'. Doll will recognise proximity of necklace and will stop crying. [st3f]

The Helpless Robot http://www.canadaco.../archival/robot.htm
The Helpless Robot enlists the muscles of human beings, using its electronic voice. [...] It is meant to behave as the classic "hustler." [st3f, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]

The Helpless Robot http://www.canadaco.../archival/robot.htm
The Helpless Robot enlists the muscles of human beings, using its electronic voice. [...] It is meant to behave as the classic "hustler." [Detly, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]

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       and where is father pray? playing outside with his mates no doubt, come home when he feels like it and want the baby asleep in bed so that he can play with his gameboy. huh boys!
—po, Jan 15 2002
   

       Out drinking Root Beer with the boys again
—thumbwax, Jan 15 2002
   

       Increase the range, and the doll could help find its "mother" if she's kidnapped.
—beauxeault, Jan 15 2002
   

       [po]: Who needs a _real_ father, much less a pretend one? Perhaps it could even come with TWO badges, both boldly proclaiming "Mommy" on the front.
—Guncrazy, Jan 15 2002
   

       And what happens when two girls with same-frequency badges fight over a single doll? Determining true ownership might require the wisdom of Solomon. And a big sword. Hey! A toy idea for the boys...
—Guncrazy, Jan 15 2002
   

       [Guncrazy]: The dolls come complete with a written set of custody dispute procedures and a toll-free arbitrator hotline.
—bristolz, Jan 15 2002
   

       I think I'd kill it. No, I *know* I'd kill it. Remember Furbies?? Remember *Gigapets*?? ::Shudders:: What short memories all of you have! Haven't any of you been exposed to any young (or even not-so-young) children or their toys in the past five or so years??
—Galileo, Jan 16 2002
   

       As I recall, I ended up taking care of the gigapet for my daughter. My husband drew the line when I started rearranging the family schedule around gigapet schedule.
—bristolz, Jan 16 2002
   

       "Chunder?" Gak. That sounds bad.
—bristolz, Jan 16 2002
   

       I'd agree that chunder is more of a "gak" than an "erk."
—beauxeault, Jan 16 2002
   

       Peter is right, there was something like this at one point in time. It had a motion sensor inside. It would cry and giggle at different times depending on the way the sensor was moving, or not moving as the case my be. I know highschools in US used them to teach teenage girls what it was like to be a parent, in hopes that they would restrain from sex. As I recall, it did work to some extent, but teen pregnancy is still prevalent.
—barnzenen, Jan 16 2002
   

       Oh, I'd want Mommy's Little Baby to do much more than *recognize* its proximity-badge-wearer. I'd want it to move on to the repetition of PBW's name for attention ("Stacey! Stacey Stacey Stacey Stacey Stacey ..."), tattling to the proximity-badge-wearer ("Gingerbread Man hit me with his cookie elbow, and it really huuuuurt"), and finally, rebelling against the PBW in an adolescent huff.   

       All of this probably explains why I'm not yet a proximity-badge-wearer, myself ...
—1percent, Jan 17 2002
   

       There was a programme last night on BBC1 about all the things they can find out from ultrasound and amnio tests. It was really gross - one foetus had a tumour growing on her back from the base of her spine and they had to deliver her by c-section a few weeks premature because the tumour had got to more than the size of her head. They were going to remove it a couple of days after birth but then it was using too much energy (didn't understand that bit) and so they operated then. I hid behind a cushion at that part. I bet a lot of women made a swift promise never to have babies after watching it. I did. But then I thought, well, maybe... But perhaps we would all be better to just stick to the dolls. Especially if their lifelike and teach you parenting problems as well as self-validation.
—sappho, Jan 17 2002
   

       I can see the advantage of a toy that complains loudly when it is lost (ever had to find a favorite teddy bear left behind somewhere?), but more for the parents than the children.
—DrCurry, Jan 18 2004
   

       Yep, there are similar dolls out there phoe. None I've seen that use a prox badge though.
—waugsqueke, Jan 18 2004
   

       Ah, didn't know you were looking for RFID specifically. There are some dolls that use RFID to identify objects they can interact with, but I don't know of any that use RFID to interact with a child. You'd need a unique tag for every child playing with the doll, no?
—phoenix, Jan 18 2004
   

       I think the idea is that there's only one tag, as a baby has only one mother.
—DrCurry, Jan 18 2004
   

       Precisely. One tag per doll.
—waugsqueke, Jan 18 2004
   

       Added a link to a google search for Zapf Creation's Baby Annabell. I suspect that the necklaces of two dolls are interchangable lowering costs and allowing easy replacement.
—st3f, Jan 19 2004
   

       3f, curious how you know about this feature... could you point to a more indicative source about it? I scoured the links you supplied (and the other suggested spelling's set of links) and can find no mention of it. The only thing close mentioned was a accessory rattle that soothes the baby with its sound.   

       I also watched the 5 minute demonstration video for the doll at zapf-creation.com, but there was again no mention of the prox badge capability.   

       Not saying you are wrong, just inquiring how you know the doll does this, as it's not evident anywhere I look. I did a bunch of searching around before I reposted this in case it had been developed in the previous two years and found nothing like it.
—waugsqueke, Jan 19 2004
   

       Yeah. There's surprisingly little about this one the web. My ex's niece got one for Christmas a couple of years back. It came with a necklace, bottle, pillow, toy and a flannel or washcloth.   

       As each item was brought to within a few centimetres of the doll's head, it reacted in a different way. Bottle: drinking noises, pillow: sleep, toy: laughter, flannel (with plastic tag in corner): splashing sounds (weird -- spashing noises without water).   

       The necklace was different. If the doll was left alone for some time, it would start crying and had to be picked up and cradled by its 'mother', i.e. the dolls head had to be brough to within a few centimeters of the necklace.   

       None of the accessories needed batteries so I assumed that they must have contained transponders powered by a transmitter contained inside the doll. Thinking about it again, they were large enough to contain button cells, so it is possible that they were factory fitted with a battery that has a couple of years lifespan.   

       If you're more than casually interested, I'd recommend dropping a line to Zapf and asking about the doll. This isn't the first time that I've searched for information on the doll's construction and I've not found much information.
—st3f, Jan 20 2004
   


 

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