When smart hardware becomes children's companions: How can family education "purchase" companionship?
One week after the 618 Shopping Festival, a large number of intelligent educational hardware products once again "trended on social media": storytellers, learning machines, smart watches, companion robots...
They are selling like hotcakes, but behind the popularity is not entirely the "urgent need for score improvement." Instead, another emotion is surging - the absence of parents' companionship ability is being replaced by AI hardware.
The fragmented time of parents, the loneliness of children, and parents' fear of "missing their children's growth" are becoming a new type of consumer driving force. And this kind of educational hardware with the attribute of "companionship" is trying to fill the gap that has been created.
Intelligent hardware not only "helps children learn", but more importantly, "accompanies them on behalf of parents."
It can tell stories, provide homework tutoring, practice oral English, remind children to go to bed, comfort them through conversations, and even "understand" their emotions, becoming a daily companion for children when parents are not around.
Behind the hot sales of intelligent hardware: Why do parents buy it?
Data from JD.com Ranking List
In today's fast - paced society, educational anxiety has almost become a resonance for every family. Parents are too busy to accompany their children, making it difficult to meet the children's psychological needs and creating a "companionship vacuum".
Intelligent hardware has emerged in response to the need. They can be "online" around the clock, both teaching and accompanying, and have suddenly become a necessity for many families. From "AI partner, providing 24 - hour considerate companionship", "Liberating parents and enabling smart parenting" to "Stimulating interest and making learning fun" - behind these slogans lies parents' urgent need to fill the "companionship vacuum". When parents have limited time and energy, intelligent hardware can fill the "time shortage", "knowledge shortage" and "companionship shortage".
Originally just a learning aid, it is now transforming into the role of "companion education". Why can these hardware products bring a sense of companionship? The key is that they have broken through the traditional one - way output of "listen to me". Through technologies such as voice recognition, interactive algorithms, and learning feedback, children can talk to them, ask questions, play games, and even get responses.
Even more impressively, they can be "tailored to individuals". By recording children's learning rhythms, interests, and even emotional changes, they gradually become a "buddy who understands you". It will adjust the content rhythm and change the interaction mode, making children feel understood and secure, and willing to continue interacting.
As Yuan Lin, the co - founder of Tinglixiong, said: "Children in the Alpha era are natural AI natives. They start interacting with devices through voice from birth. Especially the post - 2010 generation, who have precocious thinking and strong expression abilities but lack a knowledge system and arguments. AI can provide them with personalized support and expression tools. These children are also content creators on search platforms. They need the ability of AI - generated content (AIGC) and an intelligent agent that can accompany them on trips and record their growth - one that can help them with planning, recording, sharing, and also serve as a memory storage for them." This is not only an extension of companionship but also a digital weaving of the growth trajectory.
With the upgrading of technology, intelligent hardware is evolving from a "tool" to a "companion" and starting to undertake the task of "emotional companionship". What they carry is not just functions but also the way a generation of children perceives the world. This transformation from "score improvement" to "companionship" may have just begun. Facing the diverse intelligent hardware products on the market, the key behind parents' purchasing decisions lies in whether the products can truly meet the multi - level needs of children's growth.
How to "buy companionship"? - From "teaching aids" to "companions": Hardware redefines the warmth of family education
According to the "2024 Development Trend Report of the Educational Intelligent Hardware Industry" by Duojing Research Institute, the users and scenarios of educational intelligent hardware are becoming increasingly diverse. Family users' expectations for products have expanded from "score - improving tools" to the dual needs of "personalized learning + psychological companionship". Products like the Xiaodu Storyteller, iFlytek Learning Machine, Huohuotu Early Education Robot, and the Seewo Parent - Child Screen have become the "educational essentials" in many families. Parents hope that these devices can not only help children learn knowledge but also accompany them psychologically and become their "little buddies".
The value boundary of hardware products is being redefined.
First of all, when it comes to "companionship", parents first focus on the bottom - line guarantee of health and safety. In recent years, the high myopia rate among children and adolescents has become a key factor that parents have to consider when purchasing intelligent hardware. Therefore, eye protection has become an unavoidable "first threshold" for intelligent hardware. For example, devices using paper - like e - ink screens can effectively reduce blue - light damage and relieve eye fatigue. In addition, some products have built - in functions such as "mandatory rest reminders" and "distance monitoring", which can automatically intervene when children use the device for too long or in an improper posture, helping them develop good eye - using habits.
Content safety is another "family defense line". Since intelligent hardware is connected to the Internet and has diverse content sources, parents are most worried about their children being exposed to inappropriate information or violent content. Many brands have started to build in strict content screening mechanisms and develop parental control functions such as remote monitoring, usage time management, and content filtering to ensure that children learn and have fun in a safe environment. The improvement of hardware functions lies not only in protecting health but also in enriching and optimizing children's learning and interaction experiences.
Secondly, "easy to use" does not equal "good for teaching". Content is the core competitiveness. Although the built - in course content of some hardware is rich, it lacks systematicness or interactive design, causing children's enthusiasm for using it to fade quickly. On the contrary, having the ability to continuously update, providing a scenario - based interactive experience, and having teaching designs that conform to children's cognitive development are the core factors that truly enhance the "companion value".
Compared with the traditional model of "children using and parents watching from afar", these devices encourage parents and children to learn and express together through forms such as multi - player interactive games and AI voice cooperation tasks, reconstructing the parent - child communication atmosphere in the family. For example, the Seewo Parent - Child Screen transforms the living room into a parent - child co - learning paradise through touch interaction and AI somatosensory sports, promoting communication and cooperation between parents and children.
In addition, expanding from a "learning assistant" to a "life companion" is the next path for product value upgrading. Taking the travel scenario as an example, some emerging products have begun to explore designs that integrate functions such as itinerary planning, graphic recording, automatic generation of sharing content, and establishment of an AI memory, extending the time - space boundary of companionship. This concept of a "cross - scenario intelligent agent" truly promotes hardware from a "teaching aid" to a "companion for co - growth".
In addition to functions and content, the guarantee of security and privacy is also an important dimension that parents cannot ignore when making a purchase. Data security is the "touchstone" for whether intelligent hardware can win trust. Children's learning habits, voices, and even behavior data may be collected. To protect children's "digital privacy", manufacturers must use technical shields such as encrypted transmission, strict permission management, and local storage. Privacy protection is not only the inevitable path for the development of intelligent educational hardware but also the key to winning market and user recognition. Only on the basis of ensuring children's digital security can intelligent hardware truly undertake the role of a "companion" for children and contribute to the healthy and sustainable development of family education.
Next - generation hardware: Can it really "enlighten the mind" and "warm the heart"?
As technologies such as AI, big data, and cloud computing continue to mature, intelligent hardware is also constantly upgrading. By transforming from a "single tool" to a "service ecosystem", the next - generation hardware no longer exists merely as a knowledge base but hopes to build an ecosystem that can serve the entire scenario of family education and integrate deeply with family education.
AI can not only talk but also understand children's emotions. Compared with today's voice interaction and basic Q&A, future intelligent hardware will place more emphasis on emotion recognition and emotion calculation capabilities. With the help of multi - modal sensing technologies such as face recognition and voice tone analysis, devices will be able to perceive children's emotional changes and respond appropriately through voice comfort, scenario animations, and personalized feedback, creating a "warm" emotional companionship experience. The development of this kind of "emotional intelligence" not only meets children's psychological needs for understanding, support, and emotional resonance but also provides parents with an auxiliary tool to identify emotional problems and psychological troubles earlier. For example, the "Qianzhi Elf" wearable AI children's learning companion launched by the Gao Feng team has stronger emotion recognition functions and can accurately perceive and respond to children's emotions. Against the backdrop of the decreasing pressure of exams and the consensus on all - around development in education, this kind of in - depth companionship based on emotional understanding will become a key dimension for the differentiated competition of educational intelligent hardware.
Not only can it understand emotions, but it can also inspire thinking. Educational hardware is becoming smarter. The core of future educational intelligent hardware is no longer a single content reserve but the guidance and construction of children's thinking patterns. With the help of AI adaptive technology and multi - modal interaction means such as voice, somatosensory, touch, and image recognition, devices can adjust interaction strategies in real - time according to children's interests, reactions, and behavior habits, achieving two - way communication of "instant interaction + personalized feedback".
For example, the new AI Q&A pen launched by Youdao this year has the ability of a reasoning model and multi - modal recognition, enabling more intelligent in - depth Q&A interaction. This leap from a "knowledge base" to a "thinking guide" means that children are no longer passive information receivers but become question - askers and knowledge explorers. Children can use AI to see their potential and then have the desire to explore the world. Through task - based learning, scenario simulation, and open - ended questions, AI will assist children in cultivating critical thinking, structured expression ability, and innovation awareness, laying a foundation for their independent growth in a complex social environment in the future.
Hardware is no longer confined to home. It is becoming a companion for children in their daily lives. Future educational hardware will not be limited to a corner of the desk. Instead, through intelligent integration of scenarios, it will build a three - dimensional companionship network that runs through family life. From the living room to the bedroom, from the study to the journey, AI terminals will achieve coordinated linkage of content and functions, creating an "omnipresent" companionship experience. For example, the parent - child interactive screen in the living room can recognize family members and achieve parent - child co - learning and emotional linkage; the smart light in the bedroom combines sleep detection and content wake - up to achieve an intelligent transition of "reading companion + sleep aid"; in the travel scenario, an AI terminal with itinerary planning, graphic generation, and scenario recording functions can become a child's "mobile cognitive assistant" and "memory management center". This "full - scenario intelligent agent" across devices and spaces not only extends the learning time and space but also enhances the continuity of companionship and emotional connection.
Conclusion
Looking to the future, when intelligent hardware becomes children's companions, the family education ecosystem will undergo profound changes. It promotes the development of education from simple knowledge transfer to a comprehensive, personalized, and emotionally - caring direction, helping children grow up healthily and family relationships to be harmonious and integrated. For every parent, making a rational choice and using intelligent companion products scientifically can truly achieve high - quality companionship empowered by technology, making intelligent hardware a powerful assistant for family education rather than a cold substitute.
After all, companionship is about emotional cultivation, not simply a purchase. Only by integrating technology into the practice of love and companionship can we make children's growth path warmer and more fulfilling.
This article is from the WeChat official account "Duojing" (ID: DJEDUINNO), written by Sachula, and published by 36Kr with authorization.