Teddy bear car navigation system
Pink Tentacle reports on an item in the Mainichi Shimbun about a robotic teddy bear car navigation system.
LinkThe prototype robot stands 30 centimeters (1 ft) tall and has 6 joints in its arms and neck, which it uses to make gestures while providing spoken directions.
The robot bear is also equipped with functions to improve auto safety, such as an alcohol detection sensor embedded in its neck. If it smells booze, the robot confronts the driver, saying, “You haven’t been drinking, have you?” Other sensors detect wreckless driving, so if the driver suddenly accelerates or slams on the brakes, the robot says, “Watch out!”
As a bonus feature, the robot bear provides information about nearby landmarks when you stroke its head.
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Wreckless? Wouldn't such behavior be wreckful or reckless?
This is scary. First teddy bears... then clowns.
Yes, because every drunk needs to be confronted by an indignant robotic teddy bear. Sheesh. Anyone else read "Super Toys Last All Summer Long"?
Really, really want.
Great. Now I haveta buy a car.
If you're drinking and driving, are you really the sort of person who's buying a teddy bear navigation system?
This seems to be a novelty for families with minivans and extra room in their vehicle for a traffic control teddy bear.
I think that it should also have a breathalyzer option.
Can you image having to french kiss ol' Ruxpin to start your car?
Periodically, the bear will also request that you kill people in order to impress Jodie Foster.
"You haven't been drinking have you?"
"Shutup bear and entertain the kids in the back, this can of natty lite isn't going to finish itself."
On the other hand, what if someone in a drunkard's family installs one without telling him that it's automated? One day, driving home after having a few, the bear starts talking. Might be enough to get him to an AA meeting.
Oh, it's in the neck. No mouthpiece to blow.
Brings to mind "Edward Bear and the Very Long Walk".
"You haven’t been drinking, have you?”
Don't make me lie to you, Mr Bear. Don't make me lie.
Reckless driving doesn't often lead to wreckless driving.
I'm jes' sayin'.
Teddy also has sensors that detect the presence of paisley and corduroy, in which case it asks, "Are you really going out in that shirt?"
Teddy can also detect cheap cologne and lipstick, and asks the driver, "Have you talked to your therapist recently?"
And last of all, Teddy taps into parking sensors while the vehicle is in motion, offering such pearls of wisdom as, "You know, that isn't a safe braking distance. If we get into an accident, we might BREAK."
That sounds like a cool little toy, really. I might buy one, when they hit the shelves. I wonder if it has to direct you from the passenger seat, or if you can sit it on the dashboard?
I want one of those only I want it to be a Chucky doll.
And the later, badly-scarred Chucky.
Junction of highways 880 and 580, Oakland, California.
June 19th, 2009
The shoulders and median are littered with teddy bears in various states of destruction, most of which have been tossed out of the windows of passing vehicles sometime in the past year. Occasionally, one of these pint-sized marketing tragedies can still be seen making feeble arm motions and croaking "No, left! Left you bitch, turn left! Damnit, you have been drinking, haven't you?"
In an odd marketing turn that surprised analysts from coast to coast, making GPS units even more annoying did nothing to increase their usage, but drove map prices through the roof. A motorist who wished to only be identified as C. says: "Yeah, I had one of them bear things. The kids loved it, but you can only take random commands and arbitrary rebukes from a robotic beast so long before it's just gotta go out the window." While C. says he feels bad about littering and regrets having spent the money on something so idiotic, he says the satisfaction of tossing the toy out the window made it all worth it.
Could be worse. Think about it.
I wonder if it would have the voice of that creepy Teddy in the movie A.I.
maybe a full sized human model to sit in the passenger seat and also help with those pesky HOV lanes.
I just have a Hokey Pokey Elmo strapped into a car seat in the back of my car. And he's lousy with directions.
Man, I love Japan.
Of course, the next version will probably be in the form of a half-naked schoolgirl or something.
I'm working diligently on how it could be used as a sex toy. Also, there'll be a Hello Kitty version within two weeks.
"Talk Dirty to Me Bear"?
Does it flip the bird at bad drivers who cut you off?
@ RJ:
"That sounds like a cool little toy, really."
Furby with Mapquest? I guess so.
Nothing wrong with wreckless driving. Been doing it for decades, car hasn't got as much as a dent in it. Now, if only the people in the big city could stop parking by feel and use their damn eyes ... maybe I should tie a couple of teddies to the bumpers to protect the paint. Robotic teddies that scratch and bite.