The Japanese just can't stop when it comes to high-tech toys and wacky gizmos. Their latest creation? A voice-controlled toy helicopter, as if it wasn't enough that there are already remote controlled helicopters available on the market. Now, this will probably be the perfect gift for the laziest kid in the world!

Tokyo-based Taiyo Corporation has just announced that it would be selling a toy helicopter that responds to voice commands starting with March this year. However, this date is confirmed for Japan only, where the toy will be retailing for the price of 60 US dollars.

 

Nevertheless, the company stated that the toy would also be available in Asia, North America and Europe, but there wasn't a certain date mentioned for the official launch in these areas. Just to make sure, the toy will respond to commands given both in Japanese and in English, so, if you don't speak any of the two, you should either reconsider buying this toy, or start learning the languages.

 

The battery-powered toy is 18 centimeters long and can fly as far as 10 meters away from the operator. Users have to wear a headset and can choose between a total of five spoken commands: “start engine,” “up,” “hold,” “down” and “stop.” Alternatively, the helicopter can be controlled via a conventional remote control. And that's about all that it can do.

 

Despite the fact this has been touted as the next step in remotely-operated toys, you can't exactly call it spectacular. It would be a completely different situation if it could cook at command or something like that, but, otherwise, everything this toy manages to do is turn kids lazy, or lazier, depending on the case, limiting their involvement, by reducing the interactivity that the remote-controlled helicopters usually present.

 

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