i-Companion: An IOT based smart toy

In the current age, children are exposed to devices from a very young age. Although these devices serve the purpose of keeping the children occupied, they only help in passive learning where children are just expected to absorb the information. The paper details the design of i-companion, a smart toy built using ANN and IoT technology. The child can converse with the toy using audio commands, and by functioning as a conversation partner rather than a mere device, i-companion aids in overall development of the child. An accompanying mobile application for parent's end provides a way for parents for monitoring the toy's status and creating child's daily routine. The paper focuses on the toy's design and functionality detailing both the hardware (IoT) part and the software (ANN) part.