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SANTA CLARA, Calif.- Shrek II toy character versions of Shrek and Donkey can talk and hear thanks to Hasbro and Sensory, Inc. "The voice recognition technology from Sensory Inc. was an ideal application for Hasbro to use when creating the WISE CRACKIN' SHREK and WISE CRACKIN' DONKEY plush toys," said Todd Rywolt, vice president of marketing for Hasbro, Inc. "Sensory's technology allows the funny characterizations of America's favorite ogre SHREK and his hilarious sidekick DONKEY to come to life." The toys retail for about $29.95. How it Works The Shrek and Donkey characters can be spoken to, and they respond in an intelligent way to a range of predefined questions. The conversation sequence is "triggered" by an opening word that the character is listening for. Say "Hey Shrek", and he replies with a random response. The user can then ask a question like "Are you hungry?", and Shrek burps and says "Better out than in I always say." The characters have the same wisecracking personalities and voices as those on-screen, so the interactivity makes it funny and uncannily realistic at the same time. Both Shrek and Donkey use Sensory's latest integrated speech chip, the RSC-4128. This chip has everything embedded into it including RAM, ROM, processor, CODEC, and filtering to create a general purpose micro controller that can talk and hear.
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