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Smart design of intelligent companion toys for preschool children

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 December 2020

Xin Wang ,
Nian Yin  and
Zhinan Zhang Open the ORCID record for Zhinan Zhang [Opens in a new window]
Xin Wang
Affiliation:
Faculty of Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Nian Yin
Affiliation:
School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai200240, China
Zhinan Zhang*
Affiliation:
School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai200240, China
*
Author for correspondence: Zhinan Zhang, E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Early childhood education has long-lasting influences on people, and an appropriate companion toy can play an essential role in children's brain development. This paper establishes a complete framework to guide the design of intelligent companion toys for preschool children from 2 to 6 years old, which is child-centered and environment-oriented. The design process is divided into three steps: requirement confirmation, the smart design before the sale, and the iterative update after the sale. This framework considers the characteristics of children and highlights the integration of human and artificial intelligence in design. A case study is provided to prove the superiority of the new framework. In addition to enriching the research on intelligent toy design, this paper also guides for practitioners to design smart toys and helps in children's cognitive development.

Keywords

Artificial intelligence-aided designenvironment-based designintelligent companion toysiterative updatesmart design
Type
Research Article
Information
AI EDAM , Volume 35 , Special Issue 2: Thematic Collection: Smart Design of Smart Systems , May 2021 , pp. 151 - 164
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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