A seemingly ordinary wooden jigsaw puzzle, after being assembled, aimed at the camera of the tablet computer, and the computer screen immediately showed a "stereoscopic version" of the airshow screen on the jigsaw puzzle: the aircraft dragged the colorful smoke and flew across the sky, and the audience watching the applause jumped ... if you press the option button at the bottom of the screen, you can also choose to listen to a children's song about the airplane or watch a video of a real air show.
This toy incorporating augmented reality (AR) technology turns traditional puzzles into fun. At the 44th Hong Kong Toy Fair, similar toys abound. At this largest toy exhibition in Asia, virtual reality (VR), 3D printing, artificial intelligence ... All kinds of popular technologies are not difficult to find.
"With the help of the latest technology, toys are becoming more interesting and more attractive to children." Said Ge Si'an, one of the exhibitors of this toy exhibition and executive vice president of Ningbo Oumeng Education Supplies Co., Ltd.
An example is a robot toy displayed at this toy show. This toy for children from 4 to 9 years old turns abstract programming statements into touchable programming modules. Players sort programming modules printed with various arrows or musical note patterns, and identify these modules with image recognition technology and generate instructions. You can drive the robot to move, draw, play music, etc.
"I feel very difficult and difficult to learn programming by myself, so I hope that this toy will allow my children to touch the threshold of programming in a more interesting way to lay the foundation for further understanding of artificial intelligence in the future." Developer and co-founder of Shenzhen Marta Vision Technology Co., Ltd. Zheng Xiaoxiong said.
Technology not only brings more possibilities for toy development and design, but also brings new opportunities and challenges for toy sales. British toy retailer Hamley Toy Store China CEO Calvin Lian said that the development of the Internet has changed the relationship between retailers and consumers from a one-way influence to a mutual influence today, greatly changing The sales method of the toy retail industry. Today's toy retailers need to combine online and offline sales and use big data technology to more accurately target their customers.
Calvin Lian said that while ensuring product quality, it also needs to maintain a keen sense of smell, promptly discover and keep up with the ever-changing industry trends. "In the past few years, everyone has been talking about STEM (that is, science, technology, engineering and mathematics) toys. Recently, they have started to pursue STEAM (that is, science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics) toys. ? "