And as a geek, I love my tech toys.
But over time Ive noticed toys are becoming harder to understand.
Some modern toys resemble advanced devices.
There are flying toys, walking toys, and roving toys.
A number of these require configuring or connecting.
With such a variety of sophisticated, and sometimes over-engineered products, its clear manufacturers have upped their game.
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But why is this happening?
The price of tech
Toys these days seem to be designed with two major components in mind.
Its all about the smarts and rapid manufacture.
In modern toys, we see a considerable level of programmed intelligence.
This is all made possible by the falling price of technology.
Once upon a time, placing a microcontroller (a single-chip microprocessor) inside a toy was simply uneconomical.
These days, theyllonly set you back a few dollarsand allow significant computing power.
Microcontrollers are often WiFi and Bluetooth enabled, too.
This allows connected toys to access a wide range of internet servicesor be controlled by a smartphone.
These technologies allow the advanced modeling of toys, which can help design them to be tougher.
Ankis Cozmo (the Vectors predecessor) is an example of a cloud-connected robotictoy.
shutterstock
And manufacturers know this, with some toys designed specifically to drive emotional attachment.
My favorite example of this is roaming robots, such as the artificially intelligentAnki Vector.
Its evenintegrated with Amazon Alexa.
Another sophisticated toy is Sonys Aibo.
This means a smartphone becomes an inherent requirement, without which the toy cant be used.
My toys arent spying on me, surely?
These concerns might also be warranted with toys such as the Vector and Aibo.
In fact, anything that has a microphone, camera or wireless connectivity can be considered a privacy concern.
This means buying toys could become an even trickier task than it currently is.
There are some factors shoppers can consider.
If a unit hasin-built lithium batteries, can they be easily replaced?
And does the rig require an additional screen or smartphone?
This article is republished fromThe ConversationbyAndrew Maxwell, Senior Lecturer,University of Southern Queenslandunder a Creative Commons license.
