- An unprecedented educational toy that combines analog and digital technology
- A number of people became interested in Tsuta-ya appliances + stores.
- Available for pre-order via crowdfunding until February 21, 2021.
Currently, the new IoT educational toy "Koropiuta" (T.D.S. Replug Division, Inc.), which connects words and children, is on display at Tsutaya Denki + (Plus) in Futakotamagawa Tsutaya Denki (Setagaya-ku, Tokyo). Tsutaya Home Appliances + is a next-generation showroom that opens in 2019, where visitors can touch unique products from around the world. We spoke with Daisuke Kizaki, a producer at Tsutaya Home Appliances + and curator of many unknown digital appliances, about the appeal of Koropita.
We spoke with...
Tsutaya Appliance Enterprise Co.
Product Department Product Planning Unit New Business Team Leader Tsutaya Home Appliances + Producer
Daisuke Kisaki
Wooden IoT educational toys that meet the aesthetic needs of the curators of Tsutaya Home Appliances +.
Editor: What are the features of "Koropyuta"?
Kizaki: Koropyuta is an unprecedented wooden educational toy that combines the best of analog with digital. There are RFID tags embedded in the hiragana blocks, and when you insert them into the apple-shaped holes, the blocks read the characters and display them on a smartphone embedded in the device. Children can naturally learn hiragana and other words while interacting with the technology of a digital picture book that links the blocks to a smartphone.
Editor: Even though it's an IoT educational toy, you can feel the gentle warmth of the wood.
Kizaki: That's right. For several years, there's been a trend toward wood-grained designs for home appliances such as air purifiers and humidifiers, but I don't think there's much precedent for a design like Koropyuta's that brings the advantages of analog to the fore. In today's society, where we can't let go of our smartphones, many people are feeling a kind of technology fatigue. Against this backdrop, calming technology that is in harmony with human beings has been attracting attention in recent years, in contrast to the high technology that updates our lives. I think the good thing about "Koropyuta" is that it is designed so that children can enjoy playing with it even if it is analog (wooden blocks), with digital technology playing only a supplementary role. I feel the potential of Calm Technology in "Koropyuta", which incorporates the natural material of wood (beech).
