A new PVRR (Pet Virtual Reality Research) technical brief targets the hundreds of millions of global kitties who might enjoy a romp through a virtual playscape. For starters, be sure to watch the compelling promotional pitch below:

Isobar, the brainchild of this operation, boasts their brain-monitoring and emotion-measuring capabilities. Thee brief reports that they have partnered with Zoos Victoria to detail the stakeholders and potential benefits of their emerging tech. After all, they ask: why should only “big cats” get to have all of the fun?

Per the paper, “PVRR utilizes EEG and EKG technology to monitor cats’ emotions to certain stimuli. The methodology accounts for the fact that cats see less color, but see better in the dark than humans.” Their tests involved showing cats swimming fish, low-flying birds and other objects and scenes designed to evoke a response.

Actually reading the brief, though, you might be both amused and skeptical — it did also, after all, come out on April second, which may be more than coincidence (really, though, you should read it yourself to learn more).

More from the design team: “We pioneered a patent-pending process that is referred to as ‘W.A.H.T’- whisker attenuation and haptic telemetry. this groundbreaking addition to the computer vision and sensor platform has allowed us to leverage software algorithms to understand the ‘tells’ each feline has related to their whiskers and be able to accurately understand when a cat experiences one of the following states: (1) TD: totally disinterested, (2) D: disinterested, (3) MD: mildly disinterested and (4) CNP: cat-nipped – a term we’ve been using to express the same brain activity seen in highly stimulated cats when under the effects of catnip”

Of course, this may all sound silly to us right now, but wait a few years and household pets may well while away lonely days at home being fed by robots and goofing off inside simulated playscapes. According to the PVRR brief: dogs are the next target audience, so: stay tuned, canine fans!

Instead of swapping between rings and earrings for different occasions, why not keep the framework and trade out the colorful key element: the featured jewel.

Inspired by Lego and designed by Hintlab, these interchangeable creations feature all different kinds of options, from simple translucent and opaque blocks to growing crystal shapes and stamped message surfaces.

The blocks, like LEGO, can be stackable to, allowing for hybrid creations that evolve over time. Alternatively, the add-ons can fit flush with their settings, looking like a more permanent stone.

Some of the more colorful options may work well for kids, but the idea can appeal to adults as well who are sick of making sure all of their various jewelry fits, and want something minimal and simple.

At the intersection of toys and furniture, TONITURE borrows from classic construction sets with a critical twist: the do-it-yourself objects kids design and build with these pieces are functional as well as fun.

The Korean design studio G280 were inspired by Meccano, a kit-based building toy now almost a century old (that long predated LEGO and Erector). Meccano let children put together metal pieces then animate them with  wheels, pulleys, gears, axles, plates, girders, all connected by nuts and bolts.

The TONITURE approach follows much the same logic but at a larger scale, allowing small users to assemble creations with joints and surfaces scaled for use by kids. There are useful creations, like carts and chairs, and fun hybrid objects including rocking horses and cute animal-shaped benches. Instructions are offered for specific designs, but kids can also use the parts to build experimentally.

Kids “are able to create the relationship between themselves” and the spaces around them with these furniture toys, say the designers.”The Toniture (Toy + Furniture) project was designed to give children a extraordinary experience. It can be desks, chairs, and shelves with fixed by bolts and nuts. The children can build their own objects by stacking, joining, assembling each units.”

Acting out scenes from storybooks or animating real activities, these deceptively simple-looking, folded-paper toys leap, bounce, roll and hatch into action when played with.

Japanese designer Haruki Nakamura was inspired by the ancient art of kirigami, a variation on origami that involves cuts as well as folds, but takes it to the next level with his playful animals.

The specific behaviors of the toys often follow the natural reactions of a given animal, like an armadillo rolling itself up for protection when threatened.

Combining kirigami with karakuri, the art of mechanical puppets actived by touch, led him to these neat hybrid creatures that one can poke, prod, press or drop into action.

In some cases, the activities are innocent and entertaining, like a turtle popping into its shell or a chick hatching from an egg. Others are humorously sinister, showing wolves in sheep’s clothing or a tortoise being eaten by an alligator. For now, alas, these works are only available in Japan.

A sports car parked in a residential alley, train emerging from a tunnel and helicopter landing next to the Colosseum are all believable sights in Italy’s capital … except in this case they are constructed from LEGO.

Italian photographer Domenico Franco imagines these block-built vehicles at human scale in his series LEGO Outside LEGOLAND, masterfully faked scenes of photo-realistic quality.

In his series, normal conveyances are swapped with LEGO creations that stand out as simplified block forms against the rich historical fabric of Rome.

While some are clearly toys writ large, others are more convincing: a passing glance at a tractor trailer doing road work might not immediately belie its fictional origins.

Landmark buildings and aged cobblestone roads come alive thanks to the contrast created by intervening toys. Ordinary gray-blue weather and aged architecture seems even more real than in a normal photograph.

“The aim is to transform ordinary contexts in extraordinary ones,” says the artist, “thus compelling the toys to get out of the idyllic and politically correct landscapes belonging to their perfect and idealistic cities, with the result of instilling in them those vices, virtues and desires typical of human beings.”