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While health services such as the Alberta Children’s Hospital in Canada have invested in humanoid robots to calm children down during visits, our latest spotting is offering a similar idea, but this time for the home. Teddy the Guardian is a soft toy that is embedded with sensors and delivers data on babies’ vital signs in a fun and playful way.

Developed by health marketer Josipa Majic and business graduate Ana Burica, the toy looks like a standard soft bear from the outside, but features sensors that can detect vital signs such as heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen saturation, and body temperature. Parents can get their child to hold the bear’s hand, or place its paw on their forehead in order to take a reading. The data is then sent wirelessly to parents’ smartphones, enabling them to check their child’s health and keep a record over time, without having to take trips to the doctor’s. As the creators point out, those trips can cause stress and lead to false readings, but Teddy the Guardian allows parents to take readings in the comfort of their own home and share this with doctors later on.

The bear is made of Croatian wool and has received approval from the FDA and CE. Parents can pre-order Teddy the Guardian for USD 69 for delivery in October 2013. Are there other ways to disguise potentially distressing medical exams to ensure kids remain healthy?

Spotted by: Murray Orange