Continuing with its series of animal robots designed to entertain kids, tenderise adults, and more importantly, don’t poop, Sega is going to start selling their Hamster robot in Japan this August. The 3.5-inch robot is fluffy, does cute cute cute things, and you only need to feed it four batteries. Hamsters everywhere, it’s back to Burger King time for all of you furry things you. [Impress Robot Watch]
Rather like Holland in the Euro 2008 soccer tournament, Sega seems to be going all out on the ball front right now. Its latest addition to the Homestar family, those spooky-ooky balls that throw kaleidoscopic and galactic crazy shapes across the walls of your home, is the Homestar EX. Bigger, blacker brother to the Homestar Spa, this one looks like an interrogation droid in a sex harness, and has all sorts of added zing to it. You get much higher-quality images projected than the other models, as well as a random shooting-star function. The EX is remote-controlled, and it’s powerful enough to see the images when the lights are on. The price is not so funny, though: US$800. [Trends in Japan]
Taking a bath with me usually results in an out of this world experience of some kind or another, but for those of you who are too far away to experience such luxuries comes this bathtub planetarium sphere from Sega Toys. All you have to do is dim the lights and the HomeStar projects stars, underwater scenes, or even roses all over you, the walls, and whatever bath time companion followed you home that night. Hopefully it’ E.T., and he feels right at home. And before you ask, the answer is yes, you could probably whip up a DIY model of this with a flashlight and a mirror, and save yourself 7,000 yen. There’s no fun in that, though, and there’s certainly no Japanese women in bath towels. Or E.T. [ImpressWatch via TokyoMango]
We’ve seen midget-sized female robots coming out of Japan for a little while, but Sega Toys’ Eternal, Maiden, Actualization (E.M.A.) robot seems like the most fully featured one yet. Or at least the sluttiest. The bot is 38 cm tall, has a “glamorous body,” can hand out business cards, walk “like a lady,” and even kiss you when you stick your face close enough to hers. Sega’s marketing this toward adults (obviously) and will charge US$175 each. Not too bad, actually, considering a few months with this and the confidence builder DVD, you’ll be able to know what it feels like to be a socially awkward Japanese teenager. [Sega Toys via Crunchgear]
Sega Toys knows what Japanese people want: something to complain to that couldn’t possibly think badly of you. It’s called Pekoppa, and it’s got a chip inside that will bend, stretch, and lean the plant according to how you speak to it. According to Sega it’s “a good listener,” will have 200,000 units floating around Japan come September. Do they have dogs in Japan, or have all the North Koreans abducted them all? [Nikkei via Crunchinator]
Sega’s HomeStar planetarium has been around for aeons and aeons, in a raft of different versions. Its latest incarnation is the HomeStar Spa, which basically means it’s ripe for the bathroom. As before, you sit the newly-waterproofed little globe in the corner of your (bath)room and throws crazy shapes onto the walls. New projections include “Flowers” and “Kaleidoscope.” The HomeStar Spa will be launched at the Tokyo Toy Fair, at the end of this month. [Trends In Japan]
The next big trend in technology? Dancing robots. Yup. Sorry. It’s fate. It’s out of our hands. Like this Sega Toys i-spin, it either dances to ambient music or hooks to your MP3 player as a speaker—I mean, how will this not be the next consumer electronics revolution? After all, it dances. To music. So one day when we’re sitting in goo to power the robots, it’ll be for this, a coupla Sony Rollies and, if we’re lucky, one of those gyrating Coke cans from the early 90s. [i-spin]Thanks Ken!
Sega Toy’s new Body Trainer is a “medical entertainment” product, we kid you not, designed to guide you through your exercise regime. Taking account of your age, weight and so on, it advises you with spoken prompts along the lines of “Let’s start warming up.” It actually measures your heart rate with an earlobe clip, so it can tailor its advice and can even detect if you’re slacking— you wont get a crazed Army drill instructor-style insult from it though, just a wimpy “please exercise a little bit harder.”
The SegaToys Brain Checker is a handheld game that allows you to get your gray matter flexing. Given the Japanese content of the source, we are not too sure what the Brain Checker will actually involve, but derivations of Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Age games are to be expected. From the screenshots available, the game will involve picture and number based puzzles on a pocket sized LCD screen, which will attempt to get your prefrontal cortex all hot and sweaty.
