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This page is about the American inventor. For other people with the same name, see Michael Freeman (disambiguation).
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

Michael J. Freeman has worked in trend analysis, advanced behavioral systems, programming of smart toys, Cable television, robotics, telephony, among others. He was a professor at three American universities.

Education and career[edit]

He has a bachelor's degree in Economics and Management from the City College of New York-Baruch in 1969, an MBA in Business Management and Economics followed in 1970 from Baruch College.[1] and a PhD, in Philosophy majoring in Behavior Sciences and specializing in mental adaptation techniques, from the City University of New York in 1977.

Freeman was a professor at Baruch College of the City University of New York,[1] at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and at Hofstra University in the Village of Hempstead, New York. He was the keynote speaker at Harvard University on November 14, 2001 at the conference, Innovation, Entrepreneurship and the Future. [note: needs citation]

He commercialized 42 U.S. patents[2] in educational devices, programming, telephony, laser/special effects, Cable TV, and others. Founding patent claims include telephone push button tones to become the "keyboard to the home via branching.[3]" Patent claims also covering cable TV, addressability of cable converter boxes, digitization, interactivity, and smart-toys. He founded a U.S. Nasdq corporation to further develope patent claims for movies special effects, laser special effects, Hyper TV, and distance learning systems[4][5][6]

Inventions[edit]

Leachim with 3rd graders, c.1975

In 1960, at the age of 13, he 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.[7] 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." [8]

Leachim[edit]

In 1974, he 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.[9]

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

In 1984, he introduced a telephone branching technology and recorded voice interactive messaging system,[10] a process where callers hear menu options provided by an automated telephone attendant when a business is reached.[11]

This technology was officially called "automated phone menus" or "telephone branching."[10][12]

Cable television[edit]

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

ACTV Incorporated; Two Way Cable TV[edit]

In early 1984, he created founding patents for interactive TV and started an American corporation named ACTV Inc. (New York-based corporation ACTV) [13] He took the company public in 1990 with the Washington Post owning a 25% share, as well as Atari founder Nolan Bushnell.[14] He hired some high power businessmen to run the operation.[15][16] proving cable TV subscribers to interact with programming."[17] It became a publicly held corporation on May 4, 1990 and partnered with NBC TV and Showtime to test programming.[18][19] It was listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange.[20] he served as company's CEO and President until 2001.[21] Leonard Nimoy was the company spokesperson.[22][23]

Educational toys[edit]

2-XL[edit]

Main article: 2-XL

In 1975, he licensed 2-XL, an educational toy robot system to the Mego Corporation,[24] a US based toy company. The toy was "monumentally successful,"[25] 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.[25]

In 1992, the toy was reintroduced to the marketplace 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.[24] Renowned basketball player Michael Jordan was the official brand ambassador for this new version of 2-XL.[26] This version of the toy system 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.

Talk 'n Play[edit]

Main article: Talk 'n Play

In 1984, he created Talk 'n Play (also called Electronic Talk'n Play).[27] 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 Hasbro brand.[28]

"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.

Kasey the Kinderbot[edit]

Kasey the Kinderbot toy was sold by Fisher-Price a wholly owned subsidiary of Mattel.[29]

Kasey was a precursor of digital memory and animatronics and could teach forty different learning skills to children under seven years old.[30]

The toy won awards as best educational toy in 2002, and the Gold Seal award from the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio 2003.[31] Although Kasey's voice was digital, professional female voice artist Kamala Kruszka studio-mastered the initial recordings.[32][33]

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.[34] Kasey sold out of Toys R Us[35]

Interactivision[edit]

Main article: View-Master Interactive Vision

In 1986, he licensed a video game toy system to the View-Master IdealToy 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).[36]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Making Learning Fun: Inventor-Innovator Michael J. Freeman" (PDF). Baruch Alumni. August 2016.
  2. ^ "Michael J. Freeman Inventions, Patents and Patent Applications - Justia Patents Search". patents.justia.com. Retrieved 2016-09-20.
  3. ^ http://www.freepatentsonline.com/bibliography.html
  4. ^ http://www.bloomberg.com/profiles/companies/IATV:US-actv-inc
  5. ^ http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/9512052915/georgia-chooses-actv-major-distance-learning-project
  6. ^ http://slideplayer.com/slide/8493728/
  7. ^ "Toledo Blade - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 2016-09-20.
  8. ^ "The Robots Are Coming". New York Magazine. 12 (30). July 30, 1979.
  9. ^ "The Robot in Room 317". Scholastic Magazine. 44 (13). May 9, 1974.
  10. ^ a b "Your Call Is Important to Us". Kiplinger's Personal Finance. 57 (2). February 2003. ISSN 1528-9729.
  11. ^ Freeman, Michael J. (16 Mar 1982), Verbally interactive telephone interrogation system with selectible variable decision tree, retrieved 2016-09-22
  12. ^ 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)
  13. ^ http://www.google.com/patents/US4602279
  14. ^ http://articles.latimes.com/1992-06-07/business/fi-404_1_cable-tv-business/2
  15. ^ http://articles.latimes.com/1992-06-07/business/fi-404_1_cable-tv-business
  16. ^ ""New TV System Lets You Create Own Programming"". Ocala Star-Banner - Google News Archive Search news.google.com. Retrieved 2016-09-23.
  17. ^ "Waycross Journal-Herald - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 2016-09-22.
  18. ^ http://articles.latimes.com/1989-04-21/entertainment/ca-2285_1_tv-signal-nbc-tests-high-definition-signal-david-sarnoff-research-center
  19. ^ http://www.dmnews.com/news/actv-prepares-web-test-with-showtime/article/63044/
  20. ^ "Toledo Blade - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 2016-09-22.
  21. ^ "Do-It-Yourself TV". Popular Science. 233 (5): 60. November 1988. ISSN 0161-7370.
  22. ^ "Leonard Nimoy". Pinterest. Retrieved 2016-09-22.
  23. ^ money.cnn.com http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fsb/fsb_archive/2001/09/01/309477/index.htm. Retrieved 2016-09-22. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  24. ^ a b "Retro Tech: Mego's 2-XL". Retrieved 2016-09-22.
  25. ^ a b "Mego Museum Spotlight : John and Linda McNett". www.megomuseum.com. Retrieved 2016-09-22.
  26. ^ "World of 2-XL: The More Information Button: 2-XL on TV". www.2xlrobot.com. Retrieved 2016-09-25.
  27. ^ "Electronic Talk 'n Play". Best of the 80s. 2011-12-20. Retrieved 2016-09-23.
  28. ^ "Hasbro, Inc. - Current Report". apps.shareholder.com. Retrieved 2016-09-23.
  29. ^ "Kasey the Kinderbot by Fisher Price - The Old Robots Web Site". www.theoldrobots.com. Retrieved 2016-09-23.
  30. ^ "Making Smart Choices on Electronic Learning Toys | Scholastic.com". www.scholastic.com. Retrieved 2016-09-23.
  31. ^ "Fisher-Price Reports Strong Retail Sales For Kasey The KinderbotTM (NASDAQ:MAT)". investor.shareholder.com. Retrieved 2016-09-23.
  32. ^ "Theatre: Kamala Kruszka | California State University, Bakersfield". www.csub.edu. Retrieved 2016-09-23.
  33. ^ Sune Nagusi (2013-12-18), Kasey the Kinderbot's appearance on CNN-fn, retrieved 2016-09-23
  34. ^ "Fisher-Price Announces Two New Learning Platforms and Major Expansion of Existing Systems for 2004 | Business Wire". www.businesswire.com. Retrieved 2016-09-23..
  35. ^ http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB1039739403652914393
  36. ^ https://books.google.com/books?id=ZZLk-jN3PnkC&pg=PA60&lpg=PA60&dq=actv,+freeman&source=bl&ots=aPAVkdG5TS&sig=4sEcznE5fb9XVPb6uBJwNT3c-ms&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj774Ht2rHPAhWDFh4KHdz8AwIQ6AEIODAE#v=onepage&q=actv%2C%20freeman&f=false



Category:1947 births Category:Living people Category:American inventors Category:City University of New York alumni Category:Baruch College alumni Category:City College of New York alumni Category:American business executives Category:People from the Bronx

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