Monday, January 21, 2008

Wowee FemiSapien, a real 21st century girl

FemiSapien Girl robot by Wowee


Ces 2008

Video of Femisapien dancing WOW : http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x41nz3_ces-2008-wowwee-femisapien_tech

This is Femisapien from Wowwee at Ces 2008. All I can say is Wowwee! Can she be upgraded :P So anyways she is the latest and greatest in the line of walking, talking, sofisticated robots from Wowwee. She can respond to touch and sound and react with or even control other Wowwee robots through her IR emitter. No definite word on when she will hit the shelves. Her proposed price is $99.99 like all the other Wowwee introductory robots.

Interacts with other Wowwee robots

Head Movements

Attentive mode, seeing hearing, and dancing

Learning mode ( programing movement routines)

36 functions , 20 interactive routines

68 " hidden" functions keep you suprised

IR obsticle avoidance

5 motors, tilt sensors, IR senders ans recievers mic and speakers

Available in late Summer $99.99 or less

Picture from: http://www.botjunkie.com/2008/01/18/ces-2008-demo-wowwee-femisapien/

Monday, January 14, 2008

Robopod , spider robot at CES by Wowwee


RoboQuad from CES by Wowwee 2007


The colors are familiar and there's a telltale Robosapien logo on the chest, but WowWee's new Roboquad looks unlike any toy or robot you've seen before. With four "legs," a body like a 1970s airport terminal, and a longish neck topped off with a flat head, it's more crustacean than automaton.

More than any robot toy WowWee's produced before, the Roboquad defies description. It's 14 inches tall, weighs roughly 3 pounds, and comes, like all other WowWee toys, with a remote control that lets you control movement and, to an extent, mood. The Roboquad operates in four different "personalities": default, Activity, Aggression, and Awareness; each of these can be set at different levels. There is also an Autonomy mode, which allows Roboquad to roam freely and interact with its environment. Each setting affects how the robot walks, sounds, looks around, and reacts to stimuli.

Unlike other WowWee products, the Roboquad doesn't have a single touch sensor. Instead, it's rigged for sound and visual sensation. Auditory input (usually a loud sound such as a hand clap) is registered on a microphone on the front of the robot. One eye houses an infrared receiver and the other an IR transmitter. Using these sensors, the Roboquad, which runs on four C batteries, can scan areas as far away as six meters, find and avoid obstacles, notice things in its field of view—even when they move—or locate the nearest escape route. In my testing it did a fair job of seeing obstacles, although, instead of avoiding them outright, it usually got quite close (within an inch or so) before backing off and finding an alternate route. And if there's something at the level of its feet, the Roboquad may just keep trying to walk forward. I encountered this troubling response more than once.
Though the Roboquad has just six motors, it moves in odd and often unexpected ways. Its legs can rotate in unison or independently and in either direction. Unfortunately, the knee joints (for lack of a better term) are fixed, so the robot's movement all comes about from the legs rotating left or right at the hips. Likewise, the Roboquad's head can rotate at its base and bend at a joint just below the head. The second neck joint is only spring-loaded and never moves on its own.
Festooned with lights (that serve no function) and powerful speakers that put out a variety of robot-like sounds and can play a jaunty tune in demo mode (yes, there is a volume control), the Roboquad is something of a crab-walking party. Still, this robot's lack of resemblance to anything living at home or in nature makes it seem, unlike the Roboraptor and Robosapien, an oddity without a purpose.

I took it home one evening and test-ran it for my 5-year-old nephew and my own two children, ages 9 and 12. The Roboquad is intended for children age 8 and older, but my nephew was clearly intrigued by its looks, movement, and sounds. He tentatively touched the robot, but never attempted to pick it up—understandable, since Roboquad is about as huggable as a lobster. It did respond when he put his hand in front of its face, but it would be nice if WowWee had included just one touch-sensitive button.


My children immediately dubbed the robot "cool," and within minutes, my daughter was using the somewhat awkward-to-hold remote (too thin on one end and too fat on the other) to control it.
The Roboquad will walk in the direction you assign, look where you want, and even act as you request, depending on its preassigned "personality." We found the Autonomy mode most interesting, as the Roboquad attempted to navigate its environment and made odd sounds as it scanned its surroundings and sometimes seemed startled (when we placed our hands in front of his head). The startled sound, by the way, sounds almost too much like R2-D2's from Star Wars.
Walking like a drunken crab, the Roboquad navigates a room pretty well. For each movement—walking forward and back, left or right, or rotating one way or the other—it supposedly has two "gaits." But in my tests, its rather awkward way of moving made it difficult to discern a difference between the two.

In fact, that was the case for much of the Roboquad's activity. The manual explains, for example, that each personality setting has three different levels, Low, Medium, and High (green, orange, and red). So for the Aggression personality, the red LED (on the remote) or High setting will make the Roboquad have a "more aggressive response." There's also a shift button that adds yet another level of control complexity. All in all, you can do a lot with this robot. I counted 72 different activities. The problem is that it's often hard to tell what the robot is doing. Its roar doesn't sound particularly roar-like, and Attack mode, a subroutine of the Aggression personality, in which it tilts its body forward by shifting its back legs into a more upright position, doesn't look all that threatening.

The Roboquad doesn't learn or change its personality over time, but it can be programmed and will hold the programming info until it's powered down. Programming is easy. I simply hit the "P" button and then selected over a dozen moves and activities (the Roboquad can handle up to 40 commands). A number of options are excluded from the programming queue, including volume control and Autonomy, but most moves are fair game. The Roboquad shows you in advance what it'll do when running the program, by performing each action as you set it and then giving a little "affirmative" beep. When I played back my first program, however, I got a bit of a surprise. Even though I tapped each action just once, and the programming mode showed a brief turn followed by a brief lunge, followed by another brief walk in "X" direction, and so on, the Roboquad drew out each action—so the walk became many steps, and the lunge turned into a lengthy assault on one leg of my table. This is not a huge deal, since the robot is sturdy enough to take the punishment, but it does mean that to run an extended program you'll need a lot more room than you might expect.

At $99 (list), the Roboquad is not the cheapest robot toy on the block, but if you are seeking an unusual plaything that will probably never give you the warm fuzzies, but could tax your powers of memorization and comprehension, it could be your new best friend. Come to think of it, this could be exactly the kind of tech toy a 10-year-old would love.
The Roboquad will be available at The Sharper Image, Discovery, Best Buy, and Toys "R" Us by early September.Video Watch the Roboquad Video Review!

Peabot by Wowwee 2008

Peabot by Wowwee 2008 Ces


This is the Pebot from Wowwee. At this time not being made. This is a self balancing robot much like a Segway. It is a two-wheeled, friendly and funny personality robot. It has an LCD screen for a head, which displays a contextually relevant emotion. and two thin, tube-like arms that end in balls instead of hands. When it falls over it can upright itself.
It has IR, programmable personality, dynamic arm movement, gaming on the LCD screen and a back-mounted holster.
The PEA Bot uses Segway self-balancing technology and can roll along at a few miles per hour. You can dial in varying levels of imbalance - it gives this toy a more animated behavior.
The PEABOT can run either in remote control mode or in programmed semiautonomous mode. It will avoid walls and obstacles and can pick itself up if it falls. It has no cliff sensors, so it will drive itself right off a table or stairs

Robosapien RS Media , enhanced media robot by Wowee

Robosapien Rs Media by Wowwee 2007

Robosapien Dancing to a Mp3 tune loaded on the Robot. This by far had to be the most useful / entertaining version yet. Making a robot useful by playing music it cool, and even more so when he busts a move when your not looking!


Robosapien Reaching at the camera, Notice the three fingers insted of five like V2.

Backside of Robosapien Rs Media

Robosapien RS that has a Elmo Suite on !

It is a walking guard and entertainment center all in one. It can record audio and video, walk around the room filming. In guard mode, it can record who is entering the room.
The 55 cm RS Media is suited in a sleek orange and gray outer shell and is packed with advanced dynamic motion, interactive sensors, and extensive programmability. It will explore its environment with the infrared vision, foot and gauntlet sensors. Equipped with stereo sonic sensors, RS Media can hear loud sharp sounds such as a clap, will walk towards the source and acknowledge a sound directly in front by one of his many expressions, depending on his personality. RS Media's vision system allows it to track movements, detect and avoid obstacles and differentiate between colors. The long and close-range infrared vision allows it to see objects both close and far away.

This Robosapien RS Media also has all of the other functions of the V2 model: IR, voice recognition, movement recognition, bipedal walking, etc. In total it has 67 different programmable movements. The biggest change from previous Robosapien models is that fact that he has a full-color LCD display on his chest, which not only plays back video and photo files, but also shows what the robot is seeing.

It can interact with interact with Roboraptor, Robopet and Roboreptile. Equipped with volume control, all functions are handled by an easy-to-use remote control. If it falls on his back it can standup by himself without assistance. It comes with 50Mb of memory and SD card socket.
RS Media will power down 10 minutes after his last action unless something comes within his field of vision, or he is playing music.

Robosapien RSM comes with controller, USB Cable and CD RS Media software. It is powered by 6 x D and 4 x AA size batteries. In static mode it can also be powered by AC/DC adapter (Output 7.5V DC, 3.1 Amperes). If you want to use remote controller then you need 3 x AA batteries.

Customizability
The RSM is fully customizable. Users can edit his system so that is can be switch between one of the four personalities: RS Media, Service Bot 3000, Space-Bot and Billy Joe Sapien. You can also create a unique personality of your own using the USB port interface and SD card slot. You can record voices, move the robots limbs and have it all stored on a SD card. All of this information can then be manipulated in the Robosapien's new software suite, which includes the BodyCon Editor, with which users can tie together motions and sounds via a timeline-based editor. Using the SD-card you will be able to have different personalities on multiple cards and swap them in and out of the robot at will.

Multimedia
The MS Media offers full multimedia experience: music, photos, films, games. It features a 320 x 160 color LCD, offers a view of what the robot is seeing through its head-mounted camera. Any image or mpeg4 video (15 frames / second) can be captured and stored on the SD-Card (up to 2GB), and also played back on the robot's LCD display. The robot's included USB 1.0 port allows users to connect their favorite MP3 player. Music will play back via the built-in, 11-watt stereo speakers located in the hands and a subwoofer on the robot's back. You can also listen to your own voice that you can record using Robosapien RS Media's built in microphone or play one of the tree embedded java games.
Ipod Compatibility
It is also possible to attach your iPod and turn RS Media into a walking music player.
Programming
Programming There are five ways to program your RS Media:
Puppet mode - user manipulates the robot through a sequence of desired positions.
Main Program mode - using the remote controller trigger a controller command.
Sound program mode - using the remote controller trigger a sound stimuli.
Vision program mode - using the remote controller trigger a vision stimuli.
PC Mode - the most extensive way to program RS Media. Use PC to program the robot. In the PC Mode you can use the following programs: Bodycon Editor - allows you to customize and preview RS Media movements. You can create a sequence of movements, add voice and sound effects. Personality Editor - lets you create a completely new personality from scratch. Macro Editor - you can create your own macro files to be used by a personality of the robot. Media Organizer is gateway between RS Media and your computer. It allows you to upload and download videos, games, audio, personalities, and images between the computer and the robot.
And the best of all: RS runs on Java. So if you are a Java-freak, you can write your own code to teach him new tasks!



Facts courteosy of http://www.robotadvice.com/wow-wee-robosapien-rs-media_robot.html

Robotadvice.com

Average price: 279.99 as od Jan 14 08


Robosapien RS Media hacks:
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.evosapien.com/robosapien-hack/nocturnal2/files/images/Joints.preview.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.evosapien.com/robosapien-hack/nocturnal2/RSMedia&h=390&w=500&sz=31&hl=en&start=1&tbnid=8roQhlLw4SRQ6M:&tbnh=101&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3DRs%2Bmedia%26gbv%3D2%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den

Robosapien V2 by Wowwee 2006

Robosapien V2 by Wowwee 2006

" Heres Lookin at you kid" Robosapien has better animated eyes that change with mood and status of your Robot. As you can see there are IR ( infrared) Sensors on his head as well as a camera. The video camera is limited to 640x480 so he not going to substitute for a Camera.





The Robosapien V2 is a terrible bowler, though we do have to give him credit for trying. What's more, he's clumsy and a boor, full of wisecracks and disgusting bodily noises that you'd usually expect to hear from a wise-guy adolescent. As a robot, however, the Robosapien V2 is a noble and mostly successful attempt at reimagining one of the last year's most popular robot toys.
When WowWee's Robosapien V1 burst onto the scene roughly two years ago, he wasn't that impressive. He, too, had the gross noises down pat, but that was coupled with a lurching, stiff-limbed gait and precious few interactive capabilities. But he cost just $99 and managed to capture the hearts and minds of millions of American consumers.

This year, WowWee's Roboraptor has supplanted the Robosapien as the must-have robot toy of the year. It's expertly designed and priced right at $129. In its new incarnation, the Robosapien V2 will not wrest that crown from the Roboraptor—although I believe that's by design.
At $250, the Robosapien V2 has more than doubled in price and nearly in size over its predecessor. Fortunately, its capabilities have grown as well. This blue-eyed automaton has an almost fully articulated body and is capable of head turns, arm and shoulder bends, grasping with large robotic fingers, and bending at the waist. He still lacks knees and though he can walk at three different gaits, he won't be climbing any stairs. The Robosapien V2 also has dozens of user-controlled actions, each of which can be accessed via the multibuttoned remote. Additionally he can hear, see (though not through his luminescent eyes), feel via sensors in his hands and feet, and interact.

He can roam freely, bumping into things and then changing direction (keep him away from stairs, though). You can program him like a puppet by entering program mode and then literally moving his limbs to each position you want him to take. He'll repeat up to 12 steps, though he won't go so far as to move into a position that could cause him to fall over. You can even string together programs and subroutines to make lengthier, interactive shows. The Robosapien's sound and audio sensors can be toggled on and off via the remote, but WowWee still doesn't include a volume control, making the unit a less-than-ideal office companion.

This expressive, interactive robot's large, near-human-size, articulated hands can reach out, pick up objects, and even throw a special green bowling ball. The Robosapien V2 ships with the ball and a set of red bowling pins. If you hold the ball an inch from his face, the Robosapien will startle (he does this for anything that suddenly appears in front of him), recognize the green ball (he'll say the words), then ask for it. If you have the pins set up in his vicinity, Robosapien will find them and try to knock them over with the ball.

For all the flexibility WowWee has built into the Robosapien V2—he can even lie down and get back up—he bowls like an animated cigar-store Indian, turning only at the waist and swinging around to launch the ball in the general direction of the pins. Fred Flintstone would kick him off the team in a heartbeat. Part of the problem is that the Robosapien doesn't see all that well. You can change his vision settings for yellow (regular incandescent), white (fluorescent), and outdoor lighting. But when we switched to fluorescent, it didn't help the Robosapien see things any more clearly. He noticed things close to his face and tracked them by moving his head and body, but could also easily lose track of objects and then repeat over and over again "Where did it go?"
The Robosapien can dance, belch, pass gas, and go into guard mode, but despite having more than double the processing power of his predecessor (2.5KB RAM to V1's 128 bytes and a 4-MHz dual processor), the Robosapien still really doesn't learn. He can hold a few programs in his memory until you change the batteries, but he'll never get smarter or more cultured.

He does, however, have one other intriguing trick up his sleeve. If you also happen to own a WowWee Robopet or Roboraptor, the Robosapien can play out some scripted interaction with each of them. All we had to do was place the Roboraptor in front of the V2, turn on the Raptor, then use humanoid V2's remote to set off the Robosapien's Roboraptor control sequence. The V2 recognized the raptor ("Look at the size of that thing!") and began sending some commands that made the Raptor act like he was about to attack V2. The interaction ends with the Robosapien successfully using his robo-ministrations to tame the raptor. It's a 30-second gimmick that's fun to try, but we really wish there was more to this budding robo-friendship than just that.

At $250, the Robosapien V2 is no longer your child's favorite robot. It's intended for enthusiasts and adults with a little cash to burn. The number of things it can do will surprise you, but at this price you begin to hope for a home companion. The Robosapien V2 is many things, but he's not truly ready to keep you company or to be a reliable bowling partner.


Pictures from Pcmag.com
slideshow found at: http://www.pcmag.com/slideshow_viewer/0,1205,l=168178&s=25141&a=167628&po=1,00.asp?p=y

Roboraptor Further review 2005

RoboRaptor 2005
Further Review on mechanics and operations
Roboraptor in Package, Notice the use of green hue instead of blue like other Wowee robots.
Roboraptor Purched on his box




Using five motors, touch sensors (on its chin, back, and tail, and in its mouth), infrared (on its head and snout) and stereo audio sensors (in the head), Roboraptor can, whether you set it in "Roam" or control its locomotion, move about, avoid obstacles, and even inspect and react to its environment. For a toy, this level of interaction and environmental capability doesn't come cheap: Roboraptor sells for around $120. But as a low-end robot, it's priced right.

WowWee's first robotic toy success, Roboraptor relies on a remote to take commands from its master.There are navigation buttons on one side and body-movement controls on the other. The latter let you move Roboraptor's tail and head, put it in guard mode, or make it "bite" with its mouth and head. A shift button on the front of the remote gives you a second level of control, putting the raptor into different "moods," including Cautious, Playful, and Hunting. There are subtle differences among these modes, sometimes too subtle. We couldn't always tell if the robot was being playful or aggressive. In all modes, however, Roboraptor is loud. Its roars, snuffles, eating sounds, and screeches were loud enough to bring people scrambling to a small office where we were testing. We wish it had a silent operation mode.



Using the navigation buttons on the remote let us direct the Roboraptor across the room at a slow walk. Pressing the forward button twice made it move faster. Three pushes and it moved into a surprisingly quick walk, though it would be overly generous to call it a run. Part of the reason the robot can't truly run or turn all that well is that, while many of its body parts, including its neck, tail, arms, and hips, are articulated, its feet are fixed (there's a joint between the foot and leg, but it barely moves). The hip joints allow the back–and-forth leg motion necessary for decent walking, but turning, as it did for the Robosapien, requires the robot to rock from side to side. This is not a major issue, but it detracts a bit from Roboraptor's otherwise lifelike capabilities.

Those capabilities are pretty strong. Touching the chin sensor when the raptor's in Playful mode causes it to make a slow, almost purring, sound (though it's rougher and louder than a purr) and push its head against your hand. Roboraptor's mouth sensor lets it play tug-of-war. We did have to shove the T-shirt into its mouth (the robot barely opens its mouth on its own), but once the shirt was in there—pressing up against the sensor, which is nestled in the roof of the raptor's mouth—the robot engaged in a spirited struggle to gain control of it. The only issue we encountered was that the 3-pound robot has a tendency to tip over on its head.
Roboraptor is not a cuddly robot toy. It is, after all, a dinosaur. It doesn't stand upright; it's horizontal from the tip of its tail to the end of its nose. Picking up the long and somewhat unwieldy bot can be difficult. You almost wish it had a handle.

CPU
WowWee representatives wouldn't tell us anything about the robot's CPU, but we can tell you that it responds remarkably fast to remote-controlled and external stimuli. Virtually any motion in front of it, or an obstacle, causes a quick jerk of the head, a sniff, and, if necessary, evasive action, such as walking around the object. The remote also includes an infrared guidance system and a green light (so you can see where you're pointing). Roboraptor will follow the beam when you shine it in front of it on the floor or wall (WowWee recommends one foot away, but we had some success pointing the beam almost two feet away from Roboraptor's head). The moment we turned on the light and it hit a surface, the robot's head jerked in that direction, and it immediately began following the light. Its sonic sensors, which are smartly located where its internal ears might be, produce similar reactions. When we snapped our fingers beside its head, the robot cocked it in the direction of the sound.

Robopet , robot dog by Wowwee, 2005


Robopet , robot dog by Wowwee 2005


This is Robopet in his Trendy I-Robot styled package. Most every box I see from Wowwee reminds me of space or the Movie I-robot with all the Deep contrast and grey / blue scale colors. Grey / blue contrasted colors with a deep black background always remind people of space and high tech future.

Oh yeah I so made him do that. You can tell him to rollover or he can do it when it wants attention.

Oh Noes , Dont trash Robopet! Bad Owner!

You have to give WowWee credit. The company is capitalizing (like nobody's business) on the huge success of last year's WowWee Robosapien robot, rolling out in rapid succession innovative and unusual robot toys for people of all ages. First, we saw the realistic, well-designed Roboraptor. This was followed by an announcement of the promising—though much larger—Robosapien V2. Now we have the quirky Robopet. But whereas Roboraptor and Robosapien displayed flashes of design brilliance and appeal, the $99 Robopet is a blend of love-it-or-hate-it design and somewhat inconsistent operation.


In press materials, Robopet is described as a "futuristic replica of a real pup." That's stretching it a bit, unless future pups are born without skin. Robopet is, more accurately, a skeletal representation of a small Chihuahua's physical anatomy, especially in the legs, which have been engineered to interpret realistically the bones and tendons of a dog. As a result, Robopet can sit, rear back, and even jump like a real dog. The last trick is especially impressive, as the robot does manage to leave the ground.


Robopet Has Skills
Once you get past the faceless (Robopet has no eyes, mouth, nose, or ears to speak of) white, black, and gray exterior, you'll find a robot that has some pretty impressive skills. Like the Roboraptor, Robopet comes with a remote control and is equipped with a range of sensors for sound, image, tilt, and even edge detection. The audio sensors let him respond to loud sounds, the infrared image sensors help him navigate around obstacles, tilt lets him know if he's been knocked down or has fallen over (or is upside down), and the edge detection keeps the 9- by 6-inch (length and height), pint-size pup from falling off tables.


Functionality of Electronics
Most of these sensors work well. When placed in guard mode, objects and sounds (passing in front of him) will cause him to stand, bark out in alarm, and make other odd distress sounds. The image sensors do help him get around, say, something right in front of his face, but he may miss something below eye level. For example, at one point he began to scamper up our keyboard. Edge detection was a bit of a hit-and-miss affair. Sometimes he saw the edge of our table, other times not. We do not recommend putting him on a small or narrow table because, when Robopet does see the table edge, he rapidly walks backward to get away from the precipice and sometimes scoots right off the opposite edge, tail first. As you may have guessed, there are no sensors on his rear.


Robopet Entertaining Tricks
Robopet does a variety of tricks. They are intended to be both naughty and nice. So he can sit, play dead, jump, and roll over. He can also pass gas and "pee" on the rug—the latter involves lifting a leg and making a peeing sound effect. (No actual rugs were harmed in our testing.) The remote lets you launch any of these tricks. It also includes happy- and sad-face buttons, which you use to praise or scold the pet and encourage or discourage behavior. This is the core of Robopet's simple, though elegant, learning abilities. The more praise he receives for a trick, the more often he'll do it. The more negative the feedback, the less often he's apt to, say, pass wind. So Robopet will become the kind of puppy you want: a good natured, well-behaved one--or a slob. If you want to maintain this behavior, you'll want to leave the robot in sleep mode; pressing the sleep button on the remote for 5 seconds puts him to sleep and wakes him up. If you actually turn Robopet off, however, he forgets everything he's learned. Think of him as a robot with short-term memory loss disorder.


Autonomous Mode
As a semiautonomous robot, Robopet can do most of these tricks at will, but you can also program him to do one or any of them at any time by hitting the tricks (star) button on the remote and then transmitting the command with the execute button. Commands can be bundled together—up to 20, in fact—and delivered to the Robopet in batch form. We started by hitting the program button and then used the tricks and the directional buttons (there are four) to program him to walk forward, backward, left, and right, and then roll over and play dead. We hit the program button to end the sequence, and execute to transmit it all to Robopet. He performed all the moves without a hitch.


One of Robopet's best tricks is rolling over. He does this by twisting his body at the waist. To get up, he collapses his legs on one side and then twists his body to roll one set of feet over to the ground so he can push himself upright. It's cool to watch, and it's even more entertaining when he throws himself over on the ground to play dead and then has to get back up. This trick, too, has a downside. If Robopet is on a table, he will sometimes roll right off the edge. Again, he has no sensors on his side.


No Volume Control -
Unlike Roboraptor, this robot offers no touch sensitivity. So he's not a robot you'll want to caress. In fact, picking him up when he's awake is itself problematic. At least two people got their fingers pinched when trying to hold the rambunctious pup. And like the Roboraptor, Robopet is quite loud (certainly not office-friendly) and offers no volume control.


End Review
Overall, I am a little disappointed by Robopet. Yes, he's entertaining, and programming his actions and watching him roam and do tricks is fun. But we think this is a rare case where WowWee has overpriced its robot and missed the mark on consumer-friendly design. Maybe future Robopets will be more child friendy, with touch sensors and know when it is picked up. For adults at home he can be fun or maybe modify the little guys speaker so hes not so loud or has sound on a switch. At that point he would be fun to run around the office floor at times. This robot really should have been a 40-50 dollar robot.
Robopet begins shipping in September 2005. Sold for 99.99 when released.
Thanks to pcmag.com

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Roboraptor by Wowee

Roboraptor by Wowee 2006


Sold for 119.99 at edmundscientific.com

From a realistic point of view this guy is much less fun that robosapien. It is the first generation of dino robot pets from Wowee. There is an obvious desire for the robots but the first generations sort of hobbled as they walked , couldn't see well, and were prone to scare kids.

Dinosaurs are back and roaming the earth in the 32" long Roboraptor, an advanced fusion of technology and wild individuality. With his advanced artificial intelligence personality, realistic biomorphic motions, direct control and autonomous behaviors, the age of dinosaurs has truly returned!

Roboraptor walks, runs and turns. It has 3 distinct moods and and also features mood-dependent behaviors. Roboraptor may be a robotic dinosaur, but don't let that fool you - this is one sensitive dinosaur. Roboraptor is multisensory, responding to touch, sounds and even a visual stimulus (laser).

Robosapien Hackers Handbook

Robosapien Hackers Handbook



Tab Robotics came out with a full book that outlines and blueprints the Robosapien. This of course didn't happen until the next robosapien version came out to steer away from Lawsuits. The book gives tutorials on modifying the little guys for a little more fun. It also throws out many ideas to base your own really cool mods from. Wowee never actually responded to this negatively. Instead they use the " sit back and watch" approach. It customers find they want a little something more from a product and change it it helps Wowee. Wowee simply tracks the public interest in certian mods and tutorials and take those in mind when making the new model. The first thing that was changed is Robosapiens hands and He was given a " royal knight" helmet with blue eyes instead of the red eyed space invader helmet that probably gave kids nightmares.

available from $7.99 up to $30
Found on Amazon. com : http://www.amazon.com/Official-Robosapien-Hackers-Guide/dp/0071463097/ref=pd_bbs_sr_10?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1200289687&sr=8-10

Red Robosapein 2008 Limited Edition

Red Robosapien 2008



This is the Red Robosapien. This is sharper images favorite color. This was a special package that came out before the holidays in 2006. These are currently selling on Amazon.com for 185.99 . These are really a collectors premium and does not give the user the privilage of any more options in entertainment. Its useful If you really want a red on and dont want to have one professionally painted. All the specs are the same as original but it also comes with a small interactive figurine that your dog will promptly chew to pieces. The specs are found here http://woweerobots.blogspot.com/2008/01/robosapien-original-2004.html

Red Robopod Limited Edition

Red Robopod by Wowee


Product # WW261

This is the Red Robopod version. As far as features its basically the same as its white or green counterparts. Wowee reports it made special deals with large networks to produce the same toy in a special color. Colors that presumably will be thought of as being limited edition. This was released before the holiday season 2008. Though they sold well the price dropped to half of its price before December 25. Now Sharper Image online and catalogue retailer has slashed the price down to 49.99 as of Jan 14 07. Most customers will feel extra special they nabbed a red robopod, but everyone knows they never sold out online. So it only cool if your favorite color is red at this point. The robopod in general comes apart very easily and is ideal for those who want to have some thing that already has a cool factor to tinker with. The picture provided courteously by SharperImage.com

  • Inquisitive remote-controlled robot that explores, hears, acts independently and exhibits a variety of behaviors.
  • Change his personality and behavior by selecting Awareness, Activity and Aggression modes.
  • At a higher Awareness level, he scans and sees movement up to 10 feet away. Watch him avoid table edges and navigate doorways.
  • Raise the Activity amount to increase travel distances and speeds, and vary his Aggression level from anger to shyness.
  • Control Roboquad™ with the included illuminated wireless IR remote or use Autonomous Behavior mode, when he interacts with the environment in eight directions and three speeds via a long-range, head mounted infrared scanner and a sound sensor.
  • Uses 3 AAA and 4 C batteries (order separately). Ages 8 and up.

RoboPanda interactive robot by Wowee

Robopanda by Wowee


This Semi- Interactive toy is the cuddliest wowee has thought up yet. It has been reported that this robotic toy somtimes crawls with its forhead to move from place to place. This has been seldom reported ( about 1 in 6). Aparently some customers are expecting him to jump up on his feet and just walk around. Believe me as cute and cuddly as he is hes not going to be acrobatic. However the ability to move in a agile way around the home has never stiffled the fascination or intertaining value of our robot family members. If you simply dig things that are cute, or maybe you are a girl who normally covets all things Hello Kitty, paint this little gadget pink, white and glue a bow on then keep her forever ( or ebay as Hello kitty robot :P )

ps. you can use its remote to silence what may become annoying random attempts to tell you a story about the zoo! As always I recomend Lithium Ion Rechargable Batteries.
  • Advanced artificial intelligence makes this wonderfully animated and playful robot panda a delightful interactive companion for children.
  • You control the games and moods, or leave him in Autonomous mode.
  • Interact by touch, sound or movement to activate infrared and sonic sensors, all without a remote.
  • Over 40 lifelike biomorphic behaviors: he rolls over; sits up; crawls; stands up and walks when holding hands; avoids obstacles; and gives hugs.
  • When it's time for sleep, he tells interactive bedtime stories about special outings to a panda reserve, a zoo and even a space center!
  • Includes a soft plush baby panda whom Robopanda® recognizes and engages with by holding and hugging.
  • Runs on 4 AA batteries and 6 C batteries (order separately). Ages 8 and older.

Friday, January 11, 2008

Robosapien original 2004

strong>Original Robosapien 2004

Sold for 39.99 at Radioshack.com on Jan 14 08
Robosapien walking: http://www.jeffbots.com/mpg/robosapien2.mpg
Robot Dancing: http://www.jeffbots.com/mpg/robosapien5.mpg

If he does well, other toys of this same calibur will be made, and with technology the way it is, I can't wait to see what's next! I have been seeing Robosapien in stores, but for us to gain full appreciation, we really need to see him in motion. He was a bit pricey, but when you figure all the engineering and development that went into this little guy, he is really quite reasonable compared to other toys for his time. First of all, he is very well made. You can only tell that by picking him up, feeling his weight, hearing the gears whine, and smelling the light oil needed for this exotic toy's function. Consider a remote controlled car which goes forward, backward, left, right, fast, and slow. Well, this is a remote controlled "man" or robot that does a little bit more. He is even stable on carpet! Please download the mpg's I have linked to get a better feel for him. Robosapien is full of personality!Robosapien even has a little cup that he comes with that you can practice your skills at making him pick it up, throw it, run with it, etc. It's just like a game! He actually has two different hand styles for different tasks I assume. He can be used by remote control, or you can program a sequence of actions that he can execute in order. What are you waiting for?
The original robosapien coming with games to play trying to make the robot do things was ingenious. Almost like the public paid money to test a companies toy and provide Research and Devolopment by watching users on sites like youtube and Hobby websites where the little guys were modified to have different color eyes, better grippers, even a palm pilot as a brain.
Go get you one!Robosapien has 67 programmed functions.
Here they are:
1) Right Arm Up
2) Right Arm Down
3) Right Arm In( LFT) Left Spin/Walk Button
4) Right Arm Out (FWD) Forward Walk/Slow
5) Tilt Body Right(BK) Backward Walk/Slow
6) Left Arm Up(RSD) Right Shoulder Down
7) Left Arm Down(LSD) Left Shoulder Down
8) Left Arm In (RSU) Right Shoulder Up
9) Left Arm Out (LSU) Left Shoulder Up
10) Tilt Body Right (RFO) Right Forearm Out
11) Turn Right
12) Walk Forward
13) STOP Button
14) Turn Left
15) Walk Backward
16) (R>) Right Sensor Program
17) (S>) Sonic Program
18) (L>) Left Sensor Program
19) (R>) Right Sensor Program
20) (P) Master Command Program
21) (SELECT) Advance to GREEN Keys
22) Right Hand Thum
23) Left Hand Pickup
24) Lean Backward
25) Right Hand Throw
26) Sleep
27) Left Hand Thump
28) Left Hand Pickup
29) Lean Forward
30) Left Hand Throw
31) Listen
32) Forward Step
33) Right Turn Step
34) Backward Step
35) Right Sensor Program Execute
36) Master Command Program Execute
37) Wake Up
38) Reset
39) Left Turn Step
40) (SELECT) Advance to ORANGE Keys
41) Left Sensor Program Execute
42) Sonic Sensor Program Execute
43) Right Hand Sweep
44) High 5
45) Right Hand Strike 1
46) Burp
47) Right Hand Strike 2
48) Left Hand Sweep
49) Talk Back
50) Left Hand Strike 1
51) Whistle
52) Left Hand Strike 2
53) Bulldozer
54) Right Hand Strike 3
55) Oops!56) Demo1
57) All Demo
58) Power Off
59) Roar
60) Left Hand Strike 3
61) (Select) Return to RED Command Functions
62) Demo2
63) Dance Demo
64)65) >, > Combination "Left Walk Turn"
66) Forward, Forward Combination "Slow Walk Forward"
67) Backward, Backward Combination "Slow Walk Backward"

Mr. Personality Robot by Wowee


Mr Personality Robot by Wowee

CES 2008 Wowee

I don’t like the form factor of this fun companion-robot and I don’t know yet if it has a real sense of humor, but this latest creation from WoWee is interesting. Mr. Personality displays his personality on a LCD screen with animated and synchronized facial features. In addition he can tell jokes, reads the daily fortune and answers questions about the users’ future. New personalities can be downloaded from the Internet and transferred via USB or using a SD card. I am dying to see if this gadget is as humorous as the spec sheet claims it is! This robot Sports the Omni-directional wheels that have gained popularity over the past 5 years since they were persented to the market as a custom wheel robot part. In my opiniion this little guy would be great for a kid from about 7-12 years old.

Fully animated upper body
Color LCD screen, displays face with synchronized expressions
Various play modes including Bits, Crystal Ball, Fortune Cookies, Demo modes
Can detect and avoid obstacles, tells when it falls and when the batteries are running low
Three-wheeled omni-directional motion base
7 motors
4 IR sensors
Built-in microphone for voice memos
64 MByte of built-in memory
Audio input connector
LED battery indicator
SD memory card slot
Requires 6 “C” size batteries
Remote controller requires 3 AAA size batteries

Video Here : http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2008/01/wowwee_replaces_the_robosapien.html

Courtosy of : http://www.ubergizmo.com/15/archives/2008/01/mr_personality_wowee_humorous_personal_robot.html

Rovio by Wowee , Wifi Robot CES 2008

Rovio , robot by Wowee

CES 2008 , Rovio by Wowee

At Ces 2008 Wowee unvieled Rovio. Rovio is a robot with Omni-directional wheels and self charging station designed to be used as a survelience robot with Skype Capabilities. Even Microsoft is promoting this little machine to be used with the media center platform ( of which has not sold well dispite being required for Xbox 360 video streaming). Being coined a Survielence robot simply put means that if you are gont to get entertainment out of the robot you will need to make it do somthing entertaining as everything that has been leaked about this omnidirection bowlegged friend is it doesnt have Artificial Intelegence. So dont put your cat out in the Cold yet. It can be controlled directly from a computer so there is lots of room for custom programming and Hacking of the little robot. I dont see why we just dont get it over with an it come with a paintball gun already attached. More to be said soon for the practical uses for this Wowee robot. Perhaps security officers dont need to walk anymore, " I was so greatful when I got my Rovio, it really helps with being a security guard, I can work three locations at once and dont even need to get up " says NoLegs Larry.

Very alien like, It looks like It will hunt Down the Roomba for lunch!

This is the alien like Rovio Docked to the Self-charging Mother ship

Video at: http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2008/01/wowwee_rovio_everything_the_ai.html

Robots being cotrolled by internet/ Over network access is great. It makes the issue of fitting all the brains for a Robot on a chassis a thing of the past. Since this can be directly controlled by a computer like many robots are becoming more programable. In reality I would have tons of these guys running around the office all day, they are like mobile security cameras that can roam the remote locations of a building that may be at the entire opposite end of a property. They may be there arent any arms on this little guy so just think of him as a rolling third eye.

Robo Boa , Wowee

Wowee RoboBoa Review
Meet Roboboa. He doesn't look that pretty, more like a vacuum cleaner pipe than anything, but he does do some rather nifty things. Part A.I. robot, part alarm clock, part reading light, he might just be the most useful bedside gadget I've yet seen.
"Ever wanted a combination of a robot, alarm clock, desktop reading light and pet snake in one? Well look no further! Mark Tilden and WowWee Robotics have made just that and they have named it RoboBoa. Combining advanced A.I. animation with lights, motion and sound the RoboBoa is a smart desk light, wake-up alarm, room alarm, disco marquee, roving tank, safety light, playful cannon and friendly “alien” personality. With 41 functions in the remote you can quickly choose and change between a large selection of modes." Sounds pretty all inclusive, if only they'd made him look a little bit more friendly!
As the snake interacts or performs displays it can target other Wowee products and flash lights at then that the other wowee robots are preprogrammed to respond to. In the Robot world of Wowee Roboboa really is the center of the party. This toy can be useful even when you get bored of playing with guard functions and a smart flashlight.


Features

Thinks for himself but obeys every command

Three eyed vision can really see, track, and follow you.

Rotates spins swivles and stands up!

Interacts with other Wowee Robots

Programs up to 40 steps long

Usefull as a smart flashlight that follows you or as a guard with alarm function.