Takara Tomy’s Omnibot 17μ i-SOBOT, has been recognized by Guinness as the smallest mass-produced robot of its kind and was crowned Japan’s 2008 Robot of the Year. The annual Robot of the Year Award was started by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) in 2006 to promote development of robots in many industries.
When we looked at WowWee’s Rovio last month, one thing we were certain of was its mod-potential. As of next year, one of the more ambitious hacks will go live: RoboDance 5, with added support for Skype. While setting up the Rovio’s WiFi webcam streaming currently requires a little router tinkering, RoboDance 5 will utilize Skype’s zero-config setup to instantly connect the robot and a remote client, whether that client be Windows or Mac, or even a smartphone.
If you’re looking for a bargain holiday robot, you could do a lot worse than the Tomy i-SOBOT. Originally priced at $300 when the 6.5-inch tall robot launched late last year, Hammacher Schlemmer currently have him listed at just $99.95. That gets you 17 points of articulation, 180 pre-programmed movements and voice-control from ten different verbal prompts.
The Daleks from Doctor Who may be iconic, but take them out into the street and you’re not likely to see children and grown adults alike cuddling them, snuffling their little noses and generally coo’ing like crazed doves. For that, you seemingly need one of Ugobe’s Pleo robot dinosaurs.
Over the past couple of days, RobotsRule’s Robert Oschler – long-time tipster of all things servo-actuated – has been dancing a taunting dance before my jealous eyes, and crowing about having received his TOMY i-SOBOT robot. I’m surprised to report that I’ve kept my cool, and instead drowned my sorrows in the new English version of the TOMY website and these unboxing photos and videos of the diminutive ‘bot from waziwazi.
Right, I wanted one of TOMY’s new i-SOBOT robots before, but having seen this official video of the little electronic dude in action I simple have to get one. Never mind “will robots be able to do everything humans can do?”: i-SOBOT can somersault, which means he’s actually more talented than I am. I just hope he can’t write (so far it looks like that’s not in his repertoire) since otherwise I might be out of a job.
SlashGear’s robot-mad tipster Robert Oschler has slipped a few new videos into our inbox of Tomy’s i-SOBOT, the 6.5-inch tall mini-marvel that is set to push the robot price point way down. Available to pre-order from Amazon and other retailers for $299.99, i-SOBOT is expected to ship in October.
Check out the videos of i-SOBOT in action, after the cut…
When I was a young whippersnapper, in-between cleaning chimneys and begging for scraps of festering meat and stale bread on street corners (there was food at home, I just enjoyed the human interaction), I used to lust wantonly for Tomy’s Omnibot 2000. They had a few on the top shelf of our local toyshop, and I would beg my parents to buy me one. Sensibly, however, they refrained – it was expensive and, looking back, not very good (I’m being polite in deference to the warm childhood memories). However, I’m expecting them to retroactively throw open their chequebook and buy me what Tomy have brought out now.
This, friends and soft-skinned varmints, is the Omnibot2007 i-SOBOT. Standing just 165mm tall and weighing in at a mere 350g, Tomy are heralding him the world’s smallest biped robot; whether that’s true or not I don’t really care – what’s important is the price. $312 gets you the basic model, $418 adds in a colour video camera which can stream footage over WiFi; available in July and October respectively, they vigorously undercut rivals and make having a home-entertainment robot a real possibility for a far greater number of people.
Check out more details and photos after the cut, as well as video of the little guy in action!
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