The Twoddler: Twittering Toddlers
The Twoddler is a new award-winning prototype that allows toddlers to communicate with their family and friends using Twitter. The team behind it, designers and academics based at the Expertise Centre for Digital Media in Germany, have simply created the application from an old Fisher Price Toy. The plastic toy has been enhanced with pictures of family members and a special Arduino circuit board, which connects to sensors on the parts of the toy. When a toddler interacts with the toy the sensors process activity in two ways. Firstly, if the toddler plays with the picture of ‘mommy’ for 3 minutes, an @mommy tweet is sent saying ‘(toddler’s name) misses mommy and looks forward to playing with her’; whilst if the toddler hits the bell four times in a row a twitter message will be posted saying ‘(toddler’s name) is showing off his music skills with a new tune’. Other interactions with the toy can link to other Twoddlers, where toddlers can communicate with their friends through the toy’s flashing lights. The basic premise is that the Twoddler works well with busy families where parents can’t always be around their children. A mother can know that her toddler is thinking about her when she’s at work. Beyond that, the Twoddler demonstrates another innovative approach to linking physical world interactions with digital activity.
