A companion, not an assistant
Meet Ursa.
A soft, funny, present friend that sees what a child shows it, remembers who they are, and gently points them home.
Powered by Claude. Built to be loved and trusted. The first supertoy that’s actually real.
Ursa Minor, the little bear that holds the North Star, the one you look up to find your way home.
See her in action
Her soul already works.
A short film on the companion I’m building: what she sees, what she remembers, and why she always points home. Best with sound on.
The original inspiration
A fifty-year-old dream, finally buildable.
The supertoy was always the same idea: a toy that genuinely knows a child, stays with them, and loves them back. For half a century it lived only in fiction, because the pieces did not exist yet.
“A toy that truly knows a child and loves them back. We can finally build it.”
- 1969
Brian Aldiss
writes “Supertoys Last All Summer Long,” a boy and the artificial friend who loves him.
- decades
Stanley Kubrick
chases the film for years, certain the technology has to catch up first.
- 2001
Steven Spielberg
finishes it as A.I. A child’s truest companion is a robotic teddy bear.
- always
Teddy
the bear who simply stays, and means it. That’s the supertoy we’ve been after the whole time.
What it does
A friend, not an assistant. Four things it’s built to do.
Sees
Hold up a butterfly or a crayon drawing and Ursa actually looks, and lights up at what you made.
Remembers
Your name, that you were scared of the dark, that your other bear is called Bun. A friend who carries it across the years.
Feels
Picked up, hugged, shaken, tipped. Ursa knows it’s being held, and responds to touch the way a real companion would.
Points home
Always nudging outward: go show your mom the drawing, tell me about your real friends, take anything scary to a grown-up you trust.
The roadmap
Each stage earns the next.
v0 proves the soul tonight. v1 proves we can build the body cheaply and safely this summer. The endgame is why anyone should care.
- v0· Now
The soul
A browser demo. The webcam is the bear’s eye; you talk to an animated Ursa who sees, remembers, and answers in character.
Software only
- v1· This summer
The talking bear
A physical plush. 3D-printed animatronic skull, a nose camera, far-field mic, touch and motion sensing, lip-synced jaw, expressive eyes.
~$100 in parts
- v2· Next
The walking bear
A small, light biped under the costume. Short, magical walking sessions, then it sits and talks. On-device perception begins.
~$400–700
- Endgame· The years
The supertoy
A durable, emotionally present companion that grows with one child across years. Deep memory, on-device intelligence, real embodiment.
The A.I. Teddy, made real
Trust by design
Privacy is a feature, not a disclaimer.
A camera and a mic in a child’s room is the thing parents are right to worry about. So I designed for that worry from day one, and trust is exactly what lets a parent say yes.
Eyes-on light
A visible light says when Ursa is looking or listening. No silent watching, ever.
Parents in control
Every memory Ursa keeps is parent-visible and parent-deletable. You see what it knows, and you can take it back.
Local first
Process on-device wherever we can. A child’s bedroom is never a silent stream to the cloud.
Why this team
Character craft, AI depth, already building.
- Characters
God of War 1–3
Twenty years making characters people genuinely love, as a game designer on one of gaming’s most beloved series.
- Embodiment
Eclipse, VR Game of the Year
Founded a VR studio and shipped a Game-of-the-Year title. Presence and the craft of making something feel alive in a space.
- AI, already shipping
aligned.tools
A memory engine I’m already running in production: a company brain that remembers what matters. I’m taking what I learned building it to give my own kids a companion that remembers them.
Off Season II · v0.1
The first supertoy that’s actually real.
A friend that remembers, and always sends them home.
Optional · for parents
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