Santa's got game: GE researchers juice-up futuristic toy lab

Each holiday season, the scientists at GE Global Research showcase the latest developments in Christmas technology. Two years ago, it was the first-ever OLED Christmas tree made using GE’s bendable, paper-thin lights. Last year, it was Santa’s sleigh outfitted with 10 real-life technologies about to bust out of the lab. This year, a new online game let’s you become Santa’s “toy engineer” as you match advanced GE technologies with classic Christmas toys to create innovative new gifts.

 

Ho, ho, ho!: Click the image to go to Santa’s Toy Lab at www.ge.com/toylab. The faster you match the right technologies with the right toys the higher your score.

 

Super toys last all winter long: Newly recruited toy engineers can enhance classic Christmas toys such as a toy car, a doctor’s kit, and a robot dog, by matching them with the right GE technology.

For example, there’s a hybrid drivetrain system designed for electric toy cars. The “GE Brain” is perfect for a robot dog, as it’s a mobile sensing, processing, and communication hub that has situational and contextual self-awareness. And your Christmas tree topper can be made to shine with GE’s LED light bulb that uses jet engine cooling technology to cool the lights.

For the doctor’s kit, a Vscan pocket-sized ultrasound does the trick. When it comes to the sled under the tree, icephobic coatings — the same kind that GE’s developing for use on airplanes to prevent icing — will keep the blades gliding through the snow. And if you ever have a levitating hover board one day, ultralight super strong carbon fiber composites are what you’ll want to build it with.

For each of the first 1,000 players to post their high score to www.facebook.com/edisonsdesk, GE will donate $5 to Toys for Tots.

Once all of the toys have been made, they will be loaded into Santa’s sack and placed on the new high-tech sleigh GE made for him last year. Click the sleigh below to get details on the new features — including a wireless medical sensor for Santa to make sure he’s still his jolly old self at 30,000 feet!

http://www.gereports.com/santas-got-game-ge-researchers-juice-up-futuristic-toy-lab/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+gereports%2Ffeed+%28GE+Reports%29

* Go to www.ge.com/santa to email Santa’s super-sleigh to your friends
* Read the Toy Lab announcement