A longstanding goal of the Media Lab (and other research tanks) is to produce a doll that can adapt and respond to a child. This is a hard problem. "Weatherdoll" is a way to mimic this interaction by allowing the doll and child to interact with the same external elements. In the case of "Weatherdoll", the common externality is the weather.

Most current pseudo-interactive dolls become boring once they've exhausted their fixed repertoire. No matter how much restrain the doll designers exhibit in holding back content, eventually the doll will run out of things to say and do. The "Amazing Alley" doll gets around this by allowing parents to purchase additional flash-card type cartridges that plug into the back of the doll and provide new scenarios. But inserting rectangular cartridges in the doll's back is awkward and busts the illusion.

Weatherdoll creates fresh daily content by downloading relevant weather forecasts and adapting play appropriately. For instance, the doll will suggest an indoor game on rainy days, and an outdoor game on sunny days. The doll will ask to be dressed in appropriate clothing depending on the weather. By interacting with the doll for a few minutes each morning, a kid can quickly and enjoyable learn the day's forecast, and dress appropriately. The doll could also use the weather to initiate smalltalk with a child.

Because the weather changes constantly, and is fundamentally unpredictable, Weatherdoll will never become predictable.

Weatherdoll is essentially a custom web browser. Instead of rendering online content in a software window, it's voice rendered by a physical doll. But there's no fundamental reason why the doll couldn't be theoretically adapted to "display" any suitable web content.

Weatherdoll also treats content similar to battery life. Both comes fully charged, but must be replenished if the doll is to sustain a child's interest. Without fresh content, the doll will repeat itself and loose it's appeal. Without live batteries, the doll will fail to move or speak.

• Base Station: The base station is attached to a phoneline, and dials a special number for the latest weather information during a preset time. This information is wirelessly transmitted to the doll.
• Doll: The actual doll
• Clothing: Assortment of clothing for different types of weather: hot, cold, rainy, snowy, windy. Each clothing item will be smart-tagged so the doll can determine what it's wearing, and make appropriate wardrobe requests.

• Additional Content: There's no reason for Weatherdoll to be restricted to weather information. Just as pagers can subscribe to various information broadcasts such as sports and stock quotes, Weatherdoll could receive info about music groups, movies, clubs, books, magazines, and even web sites.
• Weatherdoll for boys: The first version is clearly aimed at girls, but the underlying concept of web-broswer dolls is adaptable to GI-Joe type dolls.
• Weatherdoll for adults: Sold as a novelty item, it could download lottery numbers, sports scores, stock quotes, or even overnight package arrival status.