Top 5 favorite invention of 2020

Every year, TIME highlights inventions that are making the world better, smarter and even a bit more fun. The result: 100 groundbreaking inventions! Here is our team’s top 5 favorite: An A Skill-Building Robot Embodied Moxie. Then, Fun with Phonics -Duolingo ABC, A Big Upgrade For Gamers – Microsoft Xbox Series S, A First in 5G – Lenovo Flex 5G. And the last one is Dual Displays – LG Wing

Let’s check it, now!

A Skill-Building Robot – Embodied Moxie

Don’t let the cutting-edge AI and robotics fool you—Moxie is more like a Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood character than HAL. Created by vets of the children’s show as well as Pixar, Jim Henson Productions, and experts in education and child development, the robot is designed to help boost the social and emotional skills of 5- to 10-year-olds. In Moxie ($1,699), children find a compassionate pal who encourages reading and drawing, and sends them on missions meant to spur engagement with adults, siblings and peers, such as writing kind notes for their family to find or talking to a friend about feelings. Paolo Pirjanian, CEO and founder of Embodied, Moxie’s creator, says it is intended to offer “a springboard into the real world.” —Marjorie Korn

Fun with Phonics – Duolingo ABC

Duolingo transformed our phones into language-learning devices. Now, with Duolingo ABC, the company is tackling a fresh challenge: childhood literacy. The new app is like an interactive Sesame Street segment that teaches kids the basics of reading with fun and simple lessons. “By taking everything we know about how people learn—and especially what we know about how to keep learners motivated with ­gamification—we believe we can help make a dent in global illiteracy rates,” says Laura Shih, the company’s senior product manager. —Matthew Gault

 A Big Upgrade For Gamers – Microsoft Xbox Series S

The tech giant’s new video console is more than just a next-gen gaming device—it’s the basis for what could become the Netflix of video games. The Series S’s secret weapon is Game Pass: a subscription service where new hits like Halo Infinite will appear the same day as their traditional release. And those games will look even sharper—the Series S ($299) can run high-resolution games at 120 frames per second, a 100% increase over its predecessor, the Xbox One. What’s more, because there is no disc drive, the Series S operates almost silently, making it all the easier to concentrate on the action. —Matthew Gault

 A First in 5G – Lenovo Flex 5G

The world’s first 5G PC, the Lenovo Flex, promises the constant connectivity of a cell phone with the versatility of a laptop. Given the currently limited availability of 5G networks, the Flex 5G may be a tad premature, and, critics say, not yet worthy of its $1,500 price tag. But once those networks are ubiquitous, the combination of up to 24 hours of battery life and blisteringly fast download speeds promises to hit the sweet spot between connectivity and endurance. —Joseph Hincks

Dual Displays – LG Wing

Smartphones have grown bigger and bigger each year—but they’re still subject to the size limitations of the human hand. The LG Wing ($999) has found a way to continue the phone-size arms race with a device that, at the flick of your wrist, opens up into a T-shape, revealing a second screen. Users can leverage their extra square inches of real estate to multi-task by opening up a different app on each display. Reviews are mixed on how useful the forward-thinking feature is, but it’s certainly innovative. —Billy Perrigo

Source: Time