Japan’s NTT Docomo and TOMY have jointly developed an interactive, voice-activated toy that allows natural voice-based exchanges in Japanese.

The device, named OHaNAS (organised human interface and network artificial intelligence system), links wirelessly with smartphones to connect to the operator’s cloud-based natural-language dialogue platform. It is targeted at children eight and older. TOMY will launch the device this fall.

Docomo said this is the first use of its natural-language dialogue platform by a third party.

Users can have simple conversations with the device on topics such as personal information, meal suggestions, music, fortune telling and weather information, Docomo said in a statement.

The natural-language dialogue platform is based on technologies developed for the operator’s Shabette Concier voice-agent service for smartphones. It is capable of analysing a wide variety of expressions and word patterns to determine the core meaning of a person’s spoken communication in Japanese.

As an open platform, Docomo said it can be tailored for third-party services and products by coding specific dialogue patterns.

The operator plans to adapt the platform for Internet of Things (IoT) devices, including automobiles and home appliances, to enable voice communication between users and machines.