You may know RFID as the tiny radio signal-emitting chips that will someday rob every aspect of your privacy once Wal-Mart makes sure they're embedded in everything you own. But as the Japanese toy company Bandai shows, there's another, more nurturing side to this emerging technology.
Naoru-kun (NOW-roo-Koon) is an animatronic doll that speaks and understands 150 phrases (in Japanese). When he starts to cough or sneeze, though, he needs your tender loving care: shoot him up with his toy syringe or feed him his toy medicine, and he'll respond appropriately. Each medical gadget has an RFID chip embedded in it, which Naoru-kun differentiates.
[For Japanese trivia buffs, Naoru is a name, but it also can mean "to heal."]
It's sort of a Teddy Ruxpin 3.0 who just needs a fix, man, can't you just give him a hit, one hit?
Naoru-kun went on sale two weeks ago. He's 5,499 yen at Toys R Us Japan. [toysrus.co.jp, via we-make-money-not-art, thanks to DT reader Michael]
