A pet toy, in combination, including a containment structure having a longitudinal axis and cross section defining an interior volume. The containment structure, which is preferably collapsible, includes a plurality of containment openings along its longitudinal axis exposing the interior volume to a pet during use of the pet toy, and an electronic component in the form of a hollow shell having a shell opening configured therein. A motor having a rotatable shaft extends toward the opening. A power supply for powering the motor and optional microprocessor, the motor, microprocessor and power supply being supported within the interior of the hollow shell. An attractant is affixed to the rotatable shaft and extends through the shell opening, the microprocessor being programmed to control operation of the motor to cause the attractant to rotate intermittently, the electronic component and attractant being visible to a pet during use of the pet toy.

A communication system according to the present disclosure includes a camera configured to be able to photograph a user who is a communication partner and a microphone configured to be able to form a beam-forming in a specific direction. The control unit identifies a position of the mouth of a user using an image of the user taken by the camera and controls a position of a head part so that the identified position of the mouth of the user is included in a region of the beam-forming.

An objective of the present invention is to provide a technology with which, when a hardware device is operated on the basis of a control program created by a program creation assistance device, an operation at a desirable response speed as, for example, a toy is possible, and an actual device of the hardware device can be independently driven. Provided is an information processing system comprising: a user terminal which assists with the creation of a control program by a user command; basic cores comprising a function for communicating with each of function modules and a function for controlling each of the function modules on the basis of the control program; and the function modules comprising a function for communicating with the basic core and a function for exercising a prescribed function. A control sending unit of the user terminal sends at least a portion of the control program to at least one of one or more of the basic cores.

Disclosed is an apparatus for running a physical software coding training book. The apparatus includes: a toy control unit being connected to a Micro Control Unit (MCU) via serial communication and controlling motion of a toy through the MCU; a training content processing unit being connected to the toy control unit via HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and providing training content written in HyperText Markup Language (HTML), the training content including motion control commands for the toy; and a physical software processing unit capable of directly writing block coding-based physical software by embedding a block code editor into the training content and performing control of the toy.

A simulated living entity (SLE) HAS a body formed of cushioned material, a contact area on an surface of the body, a heating panel under the contact area, a microphone positioned proximate one end of the exposed surface, a speaker positioned proximate the microphone, a heartbeat simulator, a breath simulator proximate the microphone and speaker, and a control system within the body comprising a microprocessor, a coupled data repository, a power supply, wireless communication circuitry, and a digital bus. The heating panel heats the contact area, the heartbeat simulator provides feeling and sound of a beating heart, the breath simulator provides air intake and exhaust, and the speaker provides sounds of a person sleeping, synchronized with the breath simulator.

If an interaction target includes a child and an adult, if a remaining power amount is less than or equal to a first threshold, and if an interaction amount is greater than or equal to a second threshold, a robot requests the adult to move the robot to a charger. If the target includes the child and the adult, if the remaining power amount is less than or equal to the first threshold, and if the interaction amount is less than the second threshold, the robot requests the child to move the robot to the charger. If the target includes only the child, if the remaining power amount is greater than the first threshold, and if the interaction amount is greater than or equal to the second threshold, the robot stops interacting with the child.

A simulated living entity (SLE) HAS a body formed of cushioned material, a contact area on an surface of the body, a heating panel under the contact area, a microphone positioned proximate one end of the exposed surface, a speaker positioned proximate the microphone, a heartbeat simulator, a breath simulator proximate the microphone and speaker, and a control system within the body comprising a microprocessor, a coupled data repository, a power supply, wireless communication circuitry, and a digital bus. The heating panel heats the contact area, the heartbeat simulator provides feeling and sound of a beating heart, the breath simulator provides air intake and exhaust, and the speaker provides sounds of a person sleeping, synchronized with the breath simulator.

A pet toy, in combination, including a containment structure having a longitudinal axis and cross section defining an interior volume. The containment structure, which is preferably collapsible, includes a plurality of containment openings along its longitudinal axis exposing the interior volume to a pet during use of the pet toy, and an electronic component in the form of a hollow shell having a shell opening configured therein. A motor having a rotatable shaft extends toward the opening. A power supply for powering the motor and optional microprocessor, the motor, microprocessor and power supply being supported within the interior of the hollow shell. An attractant is affixed to the rotatable shaft and extends through the shell opening, the microprocessor being programmed to control operation of the motor to cause the attractant to rotate intermittently, the electronic component and attractant being visible to a pet during use of the pet toy.

If an interaction target includes a child and an adult, and if an interaction amount is greater than or equal to a threshold, a robot asks the adult if the adult allows the robot to continue interacting with the child. If the target includes the child and the adult, and if the interaction amount is less than the threshold, the robot requests to the adult that the adult and the child continue interacting with the robot. If the target includes only the child, and if the interaction amount is greater than or equal to the threshold, the robot stops interacting with the child. If the target includes only the child, and if the interaction amount is less than the threshold, the robot leads the child to continue interacting with the robot.

A communication system according to the present disclosure includes a camera configured to be able to photograph a user who is a communication partner and a microphone configured to be able to form a beam-forming in a specific direction. The control unit identifies a position of the mouth of a user using an image of the user taken by the camera and controls a position of a head part so that the identified position of the mouth of the user is included in a region of the beam-forming.