My Friend Cayla was a line of dolls which uses

speech recognition Speech recognition is an interdisciplinary subfield of computer science and computational linguistics that develops methodologies and technologies that enable the recognition and translation of spoken language into text by computers with the m ...

technology in conjunction with an Android or

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...

mobile app to recognize the child's speech and have a conversation. The doll uses the internet to search what the child said which then answers with what it collected online. My Friend Cayla was created by Bob Delprincipe, inventor of

Cindy Smart Cindy Smart is a brand of doll manufactured by Manley Toy Quest. Introduced in 2002, Cindy Smart was the first doll that could see, be capable of reading words in five languages, do basic math, and tell time. The doll was first sold in the Unite ...

and

Tekno the Robotic Puppy Tekno the Robotic Puppy (also known as Teksta the Robotic Puppy) is a popular electronic robotic toy which originally launched in late 2000. Tekno sold over 7 million units in its first season and went on to sell over 40 million units in its origi ...

. The doll is banned in

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as an illegal surveillance device.

Technology

Cayla functions by sending microphone inputs to an app on an

or Android device via

Bluetooth Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is limi ...

. The app then parses the speech into text and uses keywords to search the Internet for a response. The app translates the text back into speech and sends it back to the doll, who answers after around a one-second delay. Cayla, operated by 3 AA batteries, also has a "personality", with a database containing details of her family, pets, her favorite food, pop star, and film. The creator of the doll, Bob Delprincipe, says "She's not a search engine, she's a seven-year-old girl. There are some things she just doesn't know." And he argued that though there had been 'intelligent' toys before, there had never been an Internet-connected doll.

Styles

Cayla is available in 3 styles: Blonde, Brunette and African American. The UK saw a limited release of a Princess Edition.

Distribution

My Friend Cayla is distributed by Vivid in the UK. Genesis is the US distributor.

Awards

The doll was named 2014 Innovative Toy of the Year by the London Toy Industry Association, and was a top 10 toy for all key European retailers this past holiday season. The doll was later sold in the United States market in August 2015. In 2015 My Friend Cayla won Most Wanted Dolls of 2015 from TTPM (Toys, Tots, Pets & More).

Controversy

Ken Munro of security firm Pen Test Partners claimed he hacked the doll, and demonstrated the hack in

BBC World News BBC World News is an international English-language pay television network, operated under the ''BBC Global News Limited'' division of the BBC, which is a public corporation of the UK government's Department for Digital, Culture, Media and S ...

Tech Tent program. Tim Medin from Counter Hack also hacked the doll by simply using bluetooth to use it as a remote speaker and microphone, which could be used to communicate with children. "Cayla was basically the subject of a tech prank," said Peter Magalhaes, general manager of Cayla manufacturer Genesis. In February 2017 the German

Federal Network Agency The Federal Network Agency (german: Bundesnetzagentur or ) is the German regulatory office for electricity, gas, telecommunications, post and railway markets. It is a federal agency of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Acti ...

notified parents that they were obliged to "destroy" any Cayla in their possession as it constitutes a concealed espionage device violating the German Telecommunications Act. The agency also considers the Bluetooth device as insecure, allowing connections to Cayla's speaker and microphone within a radius. The doll has also been criticised by the

Norwegian Consumer Council The Consumer Council of Norway (Norwegian: ''Forbrukerrådet'') is a Norwegian government agency and consumer protection organisation established in 1953. It works to increase consumer influence in society, to contribute to consumer-friendly develo ...

for allowing the use of the collected data from the child's speech for targeted advertisements and other commercial purposes and its sharing with third parties, as well as for hidden advertisements through the doll's positive statements about certain products and services. In the United States, the

Federal Trade Commission The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government whose principal mission is the enforcement of civil (non-criminal) antitrust law and the promotion of consumer protection. The FTC shares jurisdiction ov ...

is investigating similar complaints over whether My Friend Cayla's upload of child speech constitutes an undue violation of privacy. The resulting controversy led to the doll's inclusion in the

Museum of Failure The Museum of Failure is a museum that features a collection of failed products and services. The touring exhibition provides visitors with a learning experience about the critical role of failure in innovation and encourages organizations to bec ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, where similar failed products and services which were either commercial failures or are controversial in their own right are on display. The Spy Museum Berlin also has a Cayla doll on display, the first toy in its collection of various espionage and surveillance devices. The doll was donated by a German mother who found the doll in her daughter's room after hearing about a government order to destroy the dolls following a ban on its sale and possession.

References