The Rovio is quite definitely revving up for its September 26th launch with a bunch of new promo videos from WowWee. If you weren’t already intrigued by the web-controlled roving webcam, then you will be after watching this teaser: it looks like it does a pretty fab job of manoeuvring while streaming video and sounds. I do wish the camera vertical angle was more adjustable though.
WowWee’s awesome three-wheel webcam-enabled robot will soon be roving to an e-retailer near you! The Rovio, which features a Northstar GPS system and the ability to be controlled through the internet, mobile phones, and even game consoles, can be seen on Amazon and pre-ordered for US$300 on Hammacher Schlemmer. The scheduled release date is Sept. 26. [Crave]
For those of you looking for your first taste of a female robot that will do your bidding, the US$99 WowWee Femisapien is on sale now at WowWee’s site and major retailers like Target and Amazon. What’s super cool about this robot is that you can program its movements, essentially, with a touch of a button and dragging its limbs around rag doll style. It also sorta has boobies. [WowWee via RobotsRule]
As the folks at Robots Rule show in this video, Femisapien is “smart, funny, can dance up a storm and perform skits with you.” What a gal. Here we get a demo of just about every feature imaginable, including Fashion Pose mode, Backup Singer mode, Business Card Handout mode–you get the idea. All fine and dandy. And then, there’s this music video, where things get serious…with whips. I kid you not.
In the above video, the famous tricycle scene from The Shining is reenacted with a WowWee Tribot and a couple of Femisapiens who meet some gruesome demises. It’s pretty awesome. After the jump, check the original scene for comparison’s sake.
WowWee, makers of fine programmable robotic toys, is stepping back a bit with the “Alive” series of animatronic beasts sporting realistic skeletons that move according to how much attention they’re given. You can’t load custom Java code onto this White Tiger Cub though, so if that’s your thing, stick with the RoboSapiens or, perhaps, an equally cuddly Pleo, which has its own upcoming SDK. The cub does have plenty of movements in its repertoire though, and it’s kind of creepy to watch.
I thought I had seen the last of the WowWee singing Elvis robot last summer when Wilson skinned the thing and gave me nightmares. I was wrong. Instructables user GW Jax has put his Elvinator on display, which combines “The King” with T101, the king of death.
The Sega E.M.A. fembot we showed you on the weekend is really the WowWee Femisapien, and WowWee has just popped up a couple of “insider videos” of it in action. They show the cleverer parts of the tech, and get Femisapien doing a little swashbuckling: though the two ‘bots are just going through a set of scripted moves, the end result fencing match is impressive. In the second video, WowWee inventor Mark Tilden shows exactly how smart Femisapien is at learning moves as you pose it.
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This Disney RC Tinker Bell is one seriously sweet flying fairy. As you see in the video, it’s using WowWee’s FlyTech ornithopter-type vertical flying system to flutter, glide and dive around this Waldorf-Astoria suite. It’ll be out in the spring for $US40. [Disney]
The guys over at RobotsRule.com have just come up with this review of WowWee’s new Wrex the Dawg toy robot. And sure, it’s no Aibo, or even the robot dog from yesterday, but it’s got a certain something. It’s remote-controllable, programmable and has a suite of 18 tricks to act out, depending on its mood. And you can leave it in Guard mode, ready to stir itself and terrify your cats with some very strange noises. Check out those worryingly hypnotic rotating, flashing eyeballs too. If this ‘bot tickles your fancy, you’ll have to wait, as there’s no info on release date— but it’ll cost about US$170. AU: I saw Wrex with all the other Wowwee products I was covering off this week… He’s awesome! Expect him by the end of the year.
