video (3.8 Meg)			"Babble", 2006 Speak & Spell, Speak & Math, Speak & Read, BS2, Sonar Range Sensor, various Electronics
video small(1.3 Meg)
"Babble" consists of three toys interacting in an implied conversation. The three toys are a Speak & Spell, Speak & Math, and Speak & Read (educational toys from the 1980s). The three toys are augmented by a microprocessor, speech chip and a range sensor. The toys ask viewers to come, "closer; as a viewer approaches the piece the microprocessor determines their distance via sensor and executes a coded pattern conditionally. Each coded pattern causes the three toys to cross paths as they literally form electronic connections via hardware and programming. The resulting effect is a mixture of the three toys original speech processes becoming combined. The sound is sometimes quiet and sometimes abrasive. Each toy appears be "cut-off" from speech as the next toy begins to speak.