As kids we were all taught that you shouldn’t tap on aquarium glass because it’s (supposedly) deafening to the fish inside. But the next-generation of Hexbug’s Aquabots actually encourage this behaviour, coming to life when you tap on the bowl, or by simply running your fingers through the water.
The tiny underwater robots already serve as a surprisingly lifelike alternative to a real fish if you have no confidence in your child’s ability to keep one alive. But in order to prolong their tiny button-sized batteries, after five minutes the original Aquabots will stop swimming and rest for a while. And if you want them to come back to life immediately, you have to take them out of the tank and drop them back in again.
These new Aquabot 2.0 fish, however, are now equipped with a sensor that will wake them up without you having to completely submerge your hand to reach it — just a tap or a swish is all that’s needed. And to make the new hammerhead shark and angelfish models even more eye-catching, they now glow with a pulsating LED inside. They’re also just $US13 each, more expensive than a real goldfish until you factor in all the things you don’t have to buy like food, plants, chemicals and replacements when they eventually die. [Hexbug]