Edward C. Baig

USA TODAY

LAS VEGAS — Your infant starts crying, and instantly the room's baby monitor snaps into action. The lights come on. A soothing lullaby begins playing. Mom and dad get notifications on their smartphones.

That's just one of the scenarios Mattel sketched out for Aristotle by Nabi, a $299 voice-controlled smart baby monitor that the toymaker is announcing at Consumer Electronics Show.

With a major assist from Microsoft and Qualcomm, Mattel is using artificial intelligence, natural language interactions and Internet of Things technologies to create a cloud-connected platform for Junior’s nursery. Aristotle goes on sale in June.

From Amazon’s Alexa to the obedient helper inside Google Home, chatty AI-powered digital assistants have been steadily gaining a more prominent voice in kitchens, dens and living rooms across the country.

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But given ongoing privacy concerns surrounding the hackability of IoT devices, it remains to be seen whether kid-first digital assistants will be embraced by parents who understandably may view them as creepy intruders.

That’s precisely why Mattel Senior Vice President and Chief Products Officer Robb Fujioka is stressing the security and privacy protections built into Aristotle, which he compares to an Amazon Echo, Philips Hue lightbulb and Dropcam security camera all in one.

The voice-controlled Aristotle hub bundle consists of a Bluetooth and Wi-Fi Direct speaker with multicolored LED lights, and Wi-Fi camera with object recognition. The company is employing 256-bit encryption through the cloud, and complying with COPPA, the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, which aims to protect the privacy of children under 13.

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Though Aristotle is designed as an all-in-one solution, the product is compatible with products built around the Samsung SmartThings, Philips Hue, Wink, ZigBee, and Amazon ecosystems.

Aristotle is meant to work with both parents and kids. So the system might detect when a child is low on diapers, and let mom or dad order a fresh supply by voice, fulfilled by such retailers as BabiesRUs, Target and Amazon.

Mattel is leveraging Microsoft’s Cognitive Services, Cortana voice and Bing search inside Aristotle. And Qualcomm is contributing its chip and deep learning, voice recognition, audio and display camera technologies.

Kids or parents will be able to summon Aristotle by calling its name out loud, similar to the way Echo owners use the Alexa wake word. But Aristotle will also apparently incorporate Alexa, albeit with parental controls that may limit some of the Alexa functionality that is found in Echo or other devices.

Along those lines, Fujioka insists Mattel is not looking to compete against the most prominent digital assistants.

“We think that Google Home and Alexa are fantastic devices. We don’t feel like we want to playing in that catch up of the skill set game,” Fujioka says. Instead, Mattel’s core focus is on education and nurturing kids as they mature.

So with toddlers, Aristotle might flash different colored lights with the child trying to name the correct color. It might engage kids with sing-a-longs or reading them bedtime stories. And when your kids get into their tween years, Aristotle promises social networking integration or more sophisticated lessons, perhaps quizzing them on U.S. presidents or helping them learn a foreign language.

Mattel says Nabi, the kids-focused device maker it bought around 13 months ago, has already attracted dozens of third-party partners including Silk Labs, BabyCenter, Little Pim, iHeartRadio, FEN Learning, and Tipitap. The idea is that a gaggle of child development/parenting advice, education, music, books and games content can be accessed through the Aristotle hub and corresponding Aristotle app.

And though Aristotle will carry the Nabi brand, you can expect Aristotle experiences to also incorporate Mattel’s most venerable toy properties, including Fisher-Price, Hot Wheels and Barbie.

Email: ebaig@usatoday.com; Follow USA TODAY Personal Tech Columnist @edbaig on Twitter