Toy Fair 2010: Off the Beaten Path, Technology-wise

Written on Mar 2, 2010 by RuthJS and filed under News

One of the really cool things about Toy Fair is that along side the big toy manufacturing conglomerates like Mattel, Fisher Price, Hasbro, VTech, and Lego, you also get to see small mom and pop shops, toys that are waiting to be picked up for manufacturing, and items sold overseas looking for a market share in the US.  Here’s where I found some of the coolest items.

My Ami

You just don’t get more “mom and pop” than Ami Entertainment Solutions LLC.  Bea and Louis Fahrberger came up with this teddy bear cum mobile media device holder to protect their iPods while, at the same time, entertaining their young children with music and videos.  Basically, My Ami is a portable entertainment device holder in soft, squishy teddy bear’s clothing.

The device holder works like an adjustable clamp, and holds your media device securely with a latch that small hands cannot operate.  My Ami can then be attached to a high chair, restaurant table, stroller (using the clamp base attachment), desk, you name it, wherever you are.

The teddy is remarkably soft, completely washable, and comes in two colors.  If you don’t already have one (or you just don’t want your iPod streaming Blue’s Clues), Ami Entertainment Solutions offers players that you can purchase along with headphones (that look like little teddy bears . . . too cute!) and a carry bag.

My Ami is brand new this year.  It retails at $79.99, without the additional player, and as a mom, I can see it becoming very popular!

Bioloid Premium Kit

This was my first introduction to a Bioloid (by Robotis), and let’s just say that I was duly impressed.

The Bioloid Premium Kit can be used to build a variety of robots that, when coupled with the software, can be programmed to do some really cool things.  One kit had been used to build a dog which walked, wagged it’s tail, and bowed to follow my hand as I rested it on the table.  Another was a humanoid that was programmed to balance on a disk that had been mounted on a small base.

The technology was truly impressive, but with price tags ranging from $350 for the most basic set and heading to a cool $3K for the expert set, these kits are not necessarily targeted to the casual user.  Rather, the primary market for the Bioloid seems to be educational institutions (schools, museums, tech clubs, etc.), for which it is aptly suited.  Still, playing with the Bioloid was one of the highlights of my trip to Toy Fair, and I had to at least mention it.

Hmm, I wonder how it would do at a science fair . . .

Roboni-i

Cruising the aisles of Toy Fair, I came across a robot that can only be described as from the future.  The Roboni-i looks like a mix between a race car and Spock’s ship in the new Star Trek movie.  The Roboni-i is surprisingly agile and stable considering it balances on two large wheels.  Controlled via IR remote, players can compete in single or multi-player games.  But, the real fun is that you can program your bot’s behavior, reflexes and personality and then connect to a whole online world of gaming.  This product truly links physical reality with virtual gaming.

Available now, the Roboni-i is sold for $199, and includes everything you need to get started, including (but not limited to) the bot, remote, base station, energy port, and software.  This is one toy that I can’t wait to get a chance to play with and review in more depth.

CUBE

Just when you thought that I only looked at expensive robots, here’s a cool invention that I stumbled upon: CUBE.  DGT was showing off it’s new timer that will keep track of individual game times for up to six players.  The CUBE will keep total game time for each player or the time for each individual turn for each player.  The way it works is each player picks a color/side of the cube, and the group begins play.  When it is your turn, rotate the CUBE to the side with your color and make your move.  When you are done, pass the CUBE to the next player who will then turn it to his or her color and take a turn.  The CUBE keeps time for all players simultaneously.

While DGT has put a lot of focus on chess in the past, the CUBE breaks into general timekeeping for games such as poker, Scrabble, Trivial Pursuit, Rumicube . . . you get the picture.  Unfortunately, this is one item that is looking for a distributor, so don’t expect to see it on shelves right now.  But, DGT is hoping that the CUBE will be widely available by May.

smart-e-tales and smart-e-tunes

Building on their initial success with smart-e-bear, Intellitoys is launching some new friends to sing and read with preschoolers.  The dinosaur and kitten smart-e-tales are billed as “e-readers for pre-readers” while the puppy and penguin smart-e-tunes will play music.

All of the smart-e friends encourage interactive play and games.  Of note, Intellitoys is also working with major book publishers to record and release classic books that can be download for smart-e-tales.  Also, don’t be surprised if you see some licensed characters appearing among the smart-e friends.  But, for now, I can’t get over the cute factor of the penguin!

Overall

So, while much of Toy Fair is dominated by big names and brands, there are still many other wonderful toys and inventions to be found within the exhibition space.  I hope you enjoyed these finds as much as I did!

Have a comment about this article? Leave a comment in the KidsTechReview.com forums.