User:JoannaPaulaC/sandbox/Michael J. Freeman

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Michael J. Freeman
Michael J. Freeman
Born1947
Alma materCity University of New York, Baruch Collge, City College of New York
Occupation(s)Inventor, business and government consultant, educator, entrepreneur
Known forRobotics, electronic educational toys, telephony, interactive television, behavioral science

This article is about Dr. Michael J. Freeman, an American inventor. For other people of the same name, see Michael Freeman (disambiguation).

Michael J. Freeman is an American inventor, business and government consultant on trend analyses, behavioral scientist, entrepreneur, and educator. He is known for pioneer developments of smart toys, Cable television, robotics, telephony, advanced behavioral systems, among others. He has authored 42 US patents[1] and was a professor at three U.S. universities.

Education and Career[edit]

Freeman received his bachelor's degree in Economics and Management from the City College of New York-Baruch in 1969. His MBA in Business Management and Economics followed in 1970 from Baruch College.[2] In 1977, he received his Ph.D. in Philosophy majoring in Behavior Sciences and specializing in mental adaptation techniques, from the City University of New York.

Freeman was a professor at Baruch College of the City University of New York[2], at Cornell University[3] in Ithaca, New York, and at Hofstra University[4] in the Village of Hempstead, New York. Freeman was the keynote speaker at Harvard University on November 14, 2001 at the conference, Innovation, Entrepreneurship and the Future. [note: needs citation]

Freeman commercialized 42 U.S. patents[1] in educational devices, and in the sole core technology for touch-tone phone branching and telephony that allowed the phone system via its push-buttons and tones to become the "keyboard to the home." He also has patent claims covering cable TV, addressability of cable converter boxes, digitization, interactivity, and toys. He founded a U.S. corporation and it rose to a market capitalization of $2 billion. He developed patent claims for movies special effects, laser special effects, and developed dynamic audience displays.[1]

Inventions[edit]

In 1960, at the age of 13, Freeman was awarded first prize in the Westinghouse Science Fair, now known as the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair for his demonstration of rudimentary computer memory.[5] This allowed a robot machine to be programmed to move to a destination and automatically rerun the cycles repeatedly as many times as requested, i.e. This he called rudimentary "programming." [6]

The world's first Telephone Branching Machine invented by Freeman in 1979


Leachim[edit]

In 1974, Freeman created Leachim, a 6-ft, 200 pound robot, which demonstrated that voice branching could be done quickly enough to replicated speech (i.e. verbal output). This method combined phonemes, words, and sentences to form verbal responsive messages. Leachim was also programmed with biographical information on students, and to simulate 'infinite patience'. Leachim was tested in a fourth grade classroom in the Bronx New York.[7]

Touch-tone phone branching/Automated phone menus[edit]

In 1984, Freeman introduced an advanced telephone branching technology and recorded voice interactive messaging system,[8] a process where callers hear menu options provided by an automated telephone attendant when they reach a business.[9]

The technology was officially called "automated phone menus" or "telephone branching."[8][10]

Leonard Nimoy with Dr. Freeman

Cable television[edit]

ACTV Incorporated; Two Way Cable TV[edit]

In the early 1984, Freeman invented interactive TV,[11] allowing "subscribers to change program content to fit their needs and interests."[12] In order to license and expand this technology, he founded New York-based corporation ACTV. It became a publicly held corporation on May 4, 1990. It was listed in Nasdaq.[13] Freeman served as the  company's CEO and President until 2001.[14] Leonard Nimoy was the company spokesperson.[15][16]

Educational toys[edit]

2-XL[edit]

Main article: 2-XL

In 1975, Freeman licensed 2-XL, an educational toy robot to the Mego Corporation[17], a US based toy company. The toy was "monumentally successful,"[18] a bestseller in the late 1970s. 2-XL was sold in many foreign countries and the programs were translated into six foreign languages. A number of board games were created in conjunction with the 2-XL robot.[18]

In 1992, the toy was reintroduced by Tiger Electronics, an American toy company based in Vernon Hills, Illinois. As before, the programmed tapes were translated into many foreign languages and sold internationally.[17]

The toy became the basis of a TV game show Pick Your Brain, produced by Marc Summers Productions and Summit Media Group. The 2-XL robot in the show served as the assistant of Marc Summers, the game show host, and was voiced by Greg Berg. 2-XL was also a "spokesrobot" for basketball player Michael Jordan and his charitable foundation in 1992 and 1993.

Talk 'n Play[edit]

Main article: Talk 'n Play

In 1984, Freeman created Talk 'n Play (also called Electronic Talk'n Play), featured in The Best of the 80s blog[19]. It was a character-based interactive toy manufactured by CBS Toys within the Child Guidance brand. Later in 1986, it was reintroduced by Hasbro Toys, a Pawtucket RI, American Toy company, under the Playskool brand. Hasbro is the 3rd largest toy company in the world with $4 billion in annual sales; and Talk'n Play was financially important to Hasbro's balance sheet.[20]

"The toy spurned creativity in children and was considered one of the best futuristic learning toys of the 1980s decade and was manufactured to be an excellent educational and entertainment system." Sub-licenses for programming were awarded to Sesame Street (Children's Television Workshop) and The Walt Disney Company. With this license the toy allowed interaction between children and the characters of Big Bird, Elmo, Mickey Mouse.

File:Portrait of Kasey the Kinderbot.jpeg
Fisher Price - Kasey the Kinderbot

Kasey the Kinderbot[edit]

Kasey the Kinderbot toy was sold by Fisher-Price.[21]

Kasey acted as a precursor of digital memory and animatronics and could teach forty different learning skills to children under seven years old.[22]

The toy won accolades as best educational toy in 2002, and the Gold Seal award from the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio 2003.[23]  Although Kasey's voice was digital, professional female voice artist Kamala Kruszka studio-mastered the initial recordings.[24][25]

In 2004, The Kasey the Kinderbot line expanded with the introduction of two lower price point toys named Toby the Totbot and Fetch the Phonicsbot, plus a DVD featuring stories about Kasey.[26]

Interactivision[edit]

Main article: View-Master Interactive Vision

In 1986, Freeman created and licensed a video game toy system to the View-Master Ideal Toy Company Inc. This toy encompassed sophisticated digital interactivity considered advanced for that time period, and video games were produced by the Walt Disney Company and CTW (Children's Television Workshop).

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c "Michael J. Freeman Inventions, Patents and Patent Applications - Justia Patents Search". patents.justia.com. Retrieved 2016-09-20.
  2. ^ a b "Making Learning Fun: Inventor-Innovator Michael J. Freeman" (PDF). Baruch Alumni. August 2016.
  3. ^ "List of Cornell University faculty". Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2016-09-07.
  4. ^ "List of Hofstra University faculty". Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2015-09-18.
  5. ^ "Toledo Blade - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 2016-09-20.
  6. ^ "The Robots Are Coming". New York Magazine. 12 (30). July 30, 1979.
  7. ^ "The Robot in Room 317". Scholastic Magazine. 44 (13). May 9, 1974.
  8. ^ a b "Your Call Is Important to Us". Kiplinger's Personal Finance. 57 (2). February 2003. ISSN 1528-9729.
  9. ^ Freeman, Michael J. (16 Mar 1982), Verbally interactive telephone interrogation system with selectible variable decision tree, retrieved 2016-09-22
  10. ^ BenchmarkPortal, Dr. Jon Anton, (2005-07-12). "Article : Empower Your Callers With Self-Service Speech Recognition". Retrieved 2016-09-22.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  11. ^ ""New TV System Lets You Create Own Programming"". Ocala Star-Banner - Google News Archive Search news.google.com. Retrieved 2016-09-23.
  12. ^ "Waycross Journal-Herald - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 2016-09-22.
  13. ^ "Toledo Blade - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 2016-09-22.
  14. ^ "Do-It-Yourself TV". Popular Science. 233 (5): 60. November 1988. ISSN 0161-7370.
  15. ^ "Leonard Nimoy". Pinterest. Retrieved 2016-09-22.
  16. ^ "Almost Famous Interactive television company ACTV has been the next big thing in the entertainment field for 18 years. Here's how the startup has managed to keep the dream alive. Sort of. - September 1, 2001". money.cnn.com. Retrieved 2016-09-22.
  17. ^ a b "Retro Tech: Mego's 2-XL". Retrieved 2016-09-22.
  18. ^ a b "Mego Museum Spotlight : John and Linda McNett". www.megomuseum.com. Retrieved 2016-09-22.
  19. ^ "Electronic Talk 'n Play". Best of the 80s. 2011-12-20. Retrieved 2016-09-23.
  20. ^ "Hasbro, Inc. - Current Report". apps.shareholder.com. Retrieved 2016-09-23.
  21. ^ "Kasey the Kinderbot by Fisher Price - The Old Robots Web Site". www.theoldrobots.com. Retrieved 2016-09-23.
  22. ^ "Making Smart Choices on Electronic Learning Toys | Scholastic.com". www.scholastic.com. Retrieved 2016-09-23.
  23. ^ "Fisher-Price Reports Strong Retail Sales For Kasey The KinderbotTM (NASDAQ:MAT)". investor.shareholder.com. Retrieved 2016-09-23.
  24. ^ "Theatre: Kamala Kruszka | California State University, Bakersfield". www.csub.edu. Retrieved 2016-09-23.
  25. ^ Sune Nagusi (2013-12-18), Kasey the Kinderbot's appearance on CNN-fn, retrieved 2016-09-23
  26. ^ "Fisher-Price Announces Two New Learning Platforms and Major Expansion of Existing Systems for 2004 | Business Wire". www.businesswire.com. Retrieved 2016-09-23.
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