Baby’s First Virtual Assistant

On Jan. 3, right before the annual International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, toymaker Mattel’s Nabi division unveiled what it’s calling the world’s first smart baby monitor. “Her” name is Aristotle. The company says that, among other things, Aristotle will help purchase diapers, read bedtime stories, soothe infants back to sleep, and teach toddlers foreign words. “Our focus was: How do we create a technology platform that evolves and grows with your child?” says Robb Fujioka, Mattel’s chief products officer.

Aristotle is basically Amazon.com’s smart speaker, Echo, for the sippy-cup set. It consists of an HD camera and a voice-controlled conical tower, the size of a lava lamp, that can light up in different colors and contains a Bluetooth/Wi-Fi speaker that responds to spoken commands. (“Aristotle, play Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.”) It will start selling this summer for about $300.