Smart Toy Pig Speaks to Consumers’ Hearts
An intelligent toy pig created by the Human Language Technology Center in collaboration with a Shanghai toy manufacturer has proved a winner in the Mainland in the Year of the Pig. A speech recognition computer chip developed by the Center enables the “golden lucky piggy” as it is called to respond to 15 specific orders given in Putonghua and appear like a companion or pet. Some 200,000 have already been produced.
Prof Pascale Fung, Electronic and Computer Engineering and co-founder of the Center, said that researchers had developed a larger speech recognition computer chip in 2005 but it was too large and expensive for the smart pig to be marketable and it was necessary to develop a much-reduced version. The tiny chip that eventually resulted - the smallest and cheapest in Mainland China - enables the pig to introduce itself and react appropriately when told to go forward or backward, among other responses.
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The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) (www.ust.hk) is a world-class research university that focuses on science, technology and business as well as humanities and social science. HKUST offers an international campus, and a holistic and interdisciplinary pedagogy to nurture well-rounded graduates with global vision, a strong entrepreneurial spirit and innovative thinking. HKUST attained the highest proportion of internationally excellent research work in the Research Assessment Exercise 2014 of Hong Kong’s University Grants Committee, and is ranked as the world’s best young university in Times Higher Education’s Young University Rankings 2019. Its graduates were ranked 16th worldwide and top in Greater China in Global University Employability Survey 2018.
