써니: 자녀를 위한 스크린 없는 스마트 첫 친구

Modern parents are concerned about early education and development of infants and toddlers but worry about the side effects of excessive screen exposure.

Previously, stimulation was given to children by relying on smartphone/tablet apps or TV nursery rhymes, but studies show that screen listening can lead to attention deficit and delayed language development.

In addition, there was a problem of insufficient constant stimulation during the critical 0-5 age period for development because the primary caregiver could not always play with the child. Unsafe, low-cost electronic toys or unilateral sound-producing toys were also of limited effectiveness.

It is unique in that it is an AI companion that interacts with children using only sound and movement without a screen.

The Sunny device is an easy-to-operate physical toy made of soft silicone material. When a child interacts with natural movements such as gestures (e.g., shaking, hugging), sensors recognize this and play audio content appropriate for the situation.

The content consists of step-by-step stories, nursery rhymes, and daily rituals (sleep/meal routines) based on cognitive psychology research, and AI provides personalized conversations and games tailored to the child's language development stage and interests.

Parents can use a dedicated app to select a language, curate content, and check their child's development report to set the direction of education.

All of these functions are implemented with a focus on voice and touch without a screen, which is differentiated by providing learning stimulation without harming the child's imagination and attention.

In addition, it supports multiple languages to create a bilingual environment, and has food-grade silicone material and a sturdy, washable design for ease of use, considering the safety of children.

Individual parents with infants and toddlers (B2C)This is the main buying group.

In particular, millennial parents with children aged 0 to 5 are the main target, and interest is expected to be high in global parenting communities, including South Korea, where the zeal for education is high.

In obstetrics and gynecology clinics, postpartum care centers, and kindergartensEducational kit (B2B2C)It can be introduced as a package, or companies related to pregnancy/childbirth can provide it as a package product.

Basically, as a household childcare/education product, parents are expected to purchase it as a first birthday gift or a baby shower gift.

There is great market potential as concerns about screen time and demand for early education are common worldwide.

Global expansion has already been considered with multi-language support such as English and Turkish, and additional language content expansion such as Korean is also planned.

It is possible to expand content by region by localizing it with fairy tales or nursery rhymes that are appropriate for each country's culture.

Technically, content can be continuously updated through cloud interworking, so it can grow into a toy model as a service.

In terms of regulations, there are no major barriers as long as safety certification for children's products is obtained. Rather, there may be opportunities for public distribution in cooperation with governments or educational institutions in each country.

Market scalability is quite high as the global baby products market itself is large and it is in line with the STEM/AI toy trend.

It was selected as a CES 2026 Content & Entertainment honoree, attracting attention as an innovative example of EdTech for infants.

The technology industry reacted positively to the concept of a "screen-free AI parenting assistant," and highly praised the research-based approach to infant brain development.

The technical completeness was well-received as voice recognition and interaction were smoothly performed in the prototype demonstration, and parents, the user base, also showed great interest online (many pre-order inquiries).

However, market verification is in its early stages, so it remains to be proven whether actual parents will continue to be interested in using it for a long period of time and whether there will be educational effects.

Overall, it received attention at CES as a next-generation parenting item, but there is a realistic view that it remains to be seen whether it will be able to establish itself in the early childhood education market starting from this.