AIBO is a series of robotic dogs designed and manufactured by Sony. Sony announced a prototype Aibo in mid-1998, and the first consumer model was introduced on 11 May 1999. New models were released every year until 2006. Although most models were dogs, other inspirations included lion cubs, huskies, Jack Russell terriers, bull terrier, and space explorers. Only the ERS-7, ERS-110/111 and ERS-1000 versions were explicitly a "robotic dog", but the 210 can also be considered a dog due to its Jack Russell Terrier appearance and face. In 2006, AIBO was added into the Carnegie Mellon University Robot Hall of Fame.
A stuffed toy is a toy doll with an outer fabric sewn from a textile and stuffed with flexible material. They are known by many names, such as plush toys, plushies, stuffed animals, and stuffies; in Britain and Australia, they may also be called soft toys or cuddly toys. The stuffed toy originated from the Steiff company of Germany in the late 19th century and gained popularity following the creation of the teddy bear in the United States in 1903. At the same time, German toy inventor Richard Steiff designed a similar bear. In 1903, Peter Rabbit was the first fictional character to be made into a patented stuffed toy. In 1921, Christopher Robin's stuffed toy, given to him by his father, A. A. Milne, would inspire the creation of Winnie-the-Pooh. In the 1970s, London-based Hamleys, the world's oldest toy store, bought the rights to Paddington Bear stuffed toys. In the 1990s, Ty Warner created Beanie Babies, a series of animals stuffed with plastic pellets that were popular as collector's items.
LeapFrog Enterprises, Inc. is an educational entertainment and electronics company based in Emeryville, California. LeapFrog designs, develops, and markets technology-based learning products and related content for the education of children from infancy through grade school. The company was founded by Michael Wood and Robert Lally in 1994. John Barbour is the chief executive officer of LeapFrog.
Sheriff Woody Pride is a fictional pull-string cowboy doll who appears in the Disney–Pixar Toy Story franchise. In the films, Woody is the main protagonist, alongside Buzz Lightyear. He is primarily voiced by Tom Hanks, who voices him in the Toy Story films, short films, and TV specials. Tom Hanks' brother, Jim Hanks, voices him in Lamp Life, video games, attractions, and other merchandise.
Parachute Express was an American band of three California-based entertainers who performed, wrote, and produced music for children. Members were Stephen Michael Schwartz, Janice Hubbard, and Donny Becker. Parachute Express gained national prominence as recording artists for Gymboree Play & Music, Walt Disney Records, and Trio Lane Records. They sang the theme song to the popular television series Jay Jay the Jet Plane and have been seen on TV shows Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. Rocks and Disney's Kaleidoscope Concerts. Their music was featured in over 550 Gymboree franchises throughout the world, as well as in preschools, daycare centers, and diverse informal education programs. Parachute Express created a total of twelve albums.
Lego Education is a Lego theme designed specifically for schools that concentrates sets that can be used by education institutions and includes sets the focus on Duplo and Technic themes and contain larger amounts of pieces. The theme was first introduced in 1999.
Susan Beacham, also known as “Mrs. Money”, is an American personal finance educator specializing in financial literacy for children. Her career in banking led her to found the company Money Savvy Generation. The company develops educational toys, curriculum, and resources to teach financial education to children of all ages. Through her blog, she offers financial expertise to her readers.
Lego Friends is a product range of Lego construction toys designed primarily for girls. Launched in 2012, the theme introduced "mini-doll" figures, which are about the same size as traditional Lego minifigures but are more detailed and realistic. The eight main characters of the theme are Aliya, Nova, Zac, Liann, Paisley, Leo, Autumn and Olly, replacing the original cast named Andrea, Olivia, Stephanie, Mia and Emma. The theme was relaunched in January 2023 to focus on a more diverse cast of characters.
Toca Boca is a Swedish children's mobile video game developer. The company is owned by Spin Master and is based in Stockholm, Sweden.
Primo Toys is a London-based educational toy company founded by Filippo Yacob and Matteo Loglio, best known for creating the Cubetto Playset, an award-winning wooden robot that has been used by more than 10 million children to date, designed to teach children how to code using a tangible programming language that doesn't use screens or literacy. In April 2016, Cubetto became the most crowd-funded ed-tech invention in history, when 6,553 backers pledged a total of $1,596,457 to support their Kickstarter campaign. Primo Toys are backed by Randi Zuckerberg, Arduino co-founder Massimo Banzi, and Liam Casey's PCH International.
Sophia is a social humanoid robot developed by the Hong Kong-based company Hanson Robotics. Sophia was activated on February 14, 2016, and made its first public appearance in mid-March 2016 at South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, Texas, United States. Sophia is marketed as a "social robot" that can mimic social behavior and induce feelings of love in humans.
Osmo is a line of hands-on educational digital/physical games product by the company Tangible Play, based in Palo Alto, California. Osmo's products are built around its proprietary “Reflective Artificial Intelligence,” a system that uses a stand and a clip-on mirror to allow an iPad or iPhone's front-facing camera to recognize and track objects in the physical play space in front of the device.
Dan Klitsner is the founder and creative director of toy inventing and licensing firm KID Group LLC.
Sophie Deen is a British children's author and leader in the field of coding and STEM for young people. She is the CEO of Bright Little Labs, a kids media company that makes animations, books, games and toys with a focus on 21st century skills, inclusive role models, and sustainability.
Katie Eder is an American activist and social entrepreneur who founded and has led social impact ventures 50 Miles More, Kids Tales, and The Future Coalition, the latter where she is currently the Executive Director.
Moonbug Entertainment is a British children's media company and multi-channel network headquartered in London, with an overseas office in Los Angeles, United States which creates, produces, and distributes children's video and audio content. It is currently owned by Candle Media, an American media company led by Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs. Moonbug distributes children's entertainment intellectual property, including the YouTube channels Cocomelon and Little Baby Bum and YouTube series such as Mia's Magic Playground, Blippi, and My Magic Pet Morphle.
Callum Daniel is a British entrepreneur, presenter and founder of iCodeRobots, a technology company based in Loughborough University London focussed on giving children of all backgrounds and income levels access to classes training them to build and code robots and engaging them in a wide range of current and future tech.
Marina Umaschi Bers is the Augustus Long Professor of Education at Boston College. Bers holds a secondary appointment in Boston College's Department of Computer Science. Bers directs the interdisciplinary DevTech Research Group, which she started in 2001 at Tufts University. Her research involves the design and study of innovative learning technologies to promote children's positive development. She is known for her work in the field of early childhood computer science with projects of national and international visibility. Bers is the co-creator of the free ScratchJr programming language, used by 35 million children, and the creator of the KIBO robotic kit, which has no screens or keyboards.
Steve Horowitz is an American composer, performing musician, producer, audio engineer, author, and teacher from Brooklyn, New York.
Lovevery is an American company producing play-kit subscription boxes for children.
