Barbie Goes Future Tech With Smart Home, Hoverboard

Say what you will about Barbie, but you can’t accuse her of not being an early adopter.

As TechCrunch points out, although the advent of smart home technology has yet to gain a real foothold among flesh-and-blood consumers, that hasn’t stopped Mattel from implementing voice-enabled features throughout the newest version of its star plaything’s Dreamhouse.

It’s not Barbie who will be able to control functions such as the lights, elevator, appliances, and music player with her voice, but rather the human kids whose parents purchase them the $299 facsimile of a connected home. The new Wi-Fi-enabled Hello Barbie Dreamhouse (which is scheduled for release in the fall), TechCrunch shares, operates — like the talking Barbie smart toy that raised some parental concern around privacy when it was first released over the winter holidays — on voice recognition technology.

In addition to the voice-controlled features, the outlet adds, the new Dreamhouse (which contains three pre-set modes of various lighting and music schemes, as well as a fourth that is controlled by a mobile app) also includes embedded switches in the floor that activate features in a room whenever Barbie is walked into it.

Another technology-forward Barbie accessory that Mattel will be releasing in the fall, shares TechCrunch, is a Star Light Adventure RC Hoverboard. For all intents and purposes, from a human-sized perspective, the $60 item is actually a functioning drone — but Barbie, given her relative scale, will be able to ride it like she’s Marty McFly (or Wiz Khalifa).