This cool little toy is called the Hybrid Terrestrial and Aerial Quadrotor (HyTAQ) and was designed by Arash Kalantari and Matthew Spenko. Both of the designers hail from the robotics laboratory at the Illinois Institute of Technology. The device looks a lot like your typical four rotor flying helicopter toy inside a cage to help prevent you from breaking it when you smack into the wall.

Rather than that cage being for the protection of the rotors alone, it actually acts as a large wheel that allows the remote control device to roll around on the ground. The cage is made from a combination of polycarbonate and carbon fiber and has a long axle that is attached to the sides of the quadrotor flying machine. While the primary purpose of the cage is to allow ground mobility, it does actually protect the rotors.

You can see the device in action in the video below. It appears that the same controls that control flight for the little machine also control movement on the ground. The robotic machine can transition from ground operation to flight impressively quick and appears to be controlled like any other quadrotor we’ve seen before. The HyTAQ is capable of operating on just about any surface.

[via Technabob]

The Sphero robotic ball is now available to purchase in the UK and brings with it all the fun that has been available in the US for a long time now. There are over 20 apps to choose from including multiple player apps and arcade-style games to be enjoyed with your Sphero. The games include Drive allowing you to race Sphero around an obstacle course of your own design.

Multiple Sphero balls can be controlled at one time using separate control devices. One Sphero can also be controlled by multiple devices. Those devices include any Android or iOS device. Sphero balls can also be used as a controller for games on your Android or iOS device by holding it to tilt, turn, and aim.

The company behind Sphero offers a SDK allowing users to create their own apps to enjoy your balls in even more exciting ways. Sphero is available in the UK for £99.99 and can be purchased from MenKind and online from Amazon or Firebox among others.

Dream Cheeky is a company possibly best known for various USB devices such as missile launchers that can help you win the cubicle wars. The flying toy is called the iStrike Shuttle and rather than having its own controller it is controlled using an app on your iPhone or iPad. It’s too bad it doesn’t come with its own controller as well; I’m not a fan of iOS control for remote-controlled toys.

The controller app is designed with multiple operation modes for right or left-handed users. Different operations can be performed with the drone by sliding fingers over the controls or using the G-sensor motion sensing capability to control the drone’s flight. One of the more interesting features of this flying drone is that it has a small ping-pong ball inside a little bomb bay.

The user can hover over a target, press a button on the control app and the ball is dropped. The flying toy ships with an orange training wheel that attaches to the legs of the drone for flight training. The toy ships with a USB cable for charging its internal battery, but it can also be charged directly from your Apple gadget. The project is seeking $30,000 and has raised $9511 so far with 25 days ago. A pledge of $85 or more will get you one of the iStrike Shuttle drones when they are available.

Desk Pets has announced that the CarBot can be purchased in retail stores, including Brookstone, Best Buy, and Toys “R” Us. The company calls the new toy the world’s first micro-robotic toy car, and the little car is available for $29.99. Like most of the Desk Pets toys we’ve seen, the CarBot is controlled by an app running on Android or iOS devices.

The car has some interesting special features, including a battle mode that allows multiple players to battle using infrared sensors. The car also has a maze mode allowing players to set up a maze that the toy can navigate on its own. CarBot also has a personality mode with sound and lights as well as a mute button to play in silence.

When the car is placed in Drift ‘n’ Race mode, the little toy can reach a speed of 2 feet per second. The car has an internal rechargeable battery and charges via a retractable USB charger built into the product. Forty minutes of charge time gives users 15 minutes of play time. There are four different colors of the car, including red, blue, orange, and green each operating on their own frequency allowing up to four to be played with at one time.

The developers want the additional funding to help make the robot smarter, faster, and easier to use. The team says that they have redesigned the robot from the circuit board up and then set up production at a manufacturer in China. The developers are now trying to raise money to improve the software and are seeking another $100,000.

This next-generation Romo robot is described as “almost” everything a personal robot should be. The developers say that the new bot is cute, responsive, and really fast. The developers want to use the money raised to develop software to allow Romo to perform two-way telepresence, computer vision, autonomous navigation, and facial recognition.

The team says that with funding the new features will be released as updated apps. The team also promises to wrap a SDK around each function allowing developers to create their own apps to share. A pledge of $150 will get you one of the first next-generation Romo robots. So far, the team has raised $42,931 out of its goal of $100,000. The team has 28 days to go so it’s very likely they’ll get the money they need.

The body the helicopters made from impact resistant plastic and the toy is for kids eight and up. I have several traditional helicopters of this sort around the house and they are generally easy to fly for adults and kids. The helicopter measures 20 x 20 x 12.5 cm and can be controlled in left or right directions and up and down.

The remote control has a range of 10 to 15 m and up to three these of the helicopters can be flown at the same time thanks to a three channel selector on the remote. The controller uses six AA batteries and the helicopter has an integrated rechargeable battery. The battery needs 40 min to charge fully and allows for flight time of 8 to 10 min. The helicopter sells for $49.95.

R2 can stand either on his two legs, or via his third which extends from the bottom of the unit. The designers have also added various touches and nods from R2’s exploits in the original trilogy, including his data jack (be careful not to put it in an electrical socket…), as well as a buzzsaw. Both can be extended and tuck neatly away inside R2’s body.

The head can be rotated a full 360 degrees, and the blue flaps on the upper half of the body can also be extended. R2 stands tall at around 30cm, and the designers say they had access to all sorts of Star Wars reference material, as well as the movies, in order to create the perfect R2 unit.

When it goes on sale in the UK in May, it will cost roughly £150 (~$237). If you can’t wait until then, feast your eyes on the video below for a more detailed look at the world’s favourite astromech droid.

[via Geekologie]

After an exhausting day walking the show floor and paying $4.50 for a bottle of water (this is why you can’t have nice things, New York City), I realized that instead of writing a column about all the cool connected toys I discovered, I was going to end up with something quite different. First of all, Toy Fair reflects an industry with a few very large players – Toys R Us, Walmart, and Target – and a lot of very small independent toy shops. My guess is that the big box stores don’t need Toy Fair – the big vendors court them year round.

As a result, most of the Toy Fair exhibitors seemed to be aiming at buyers for mom and pop stores, and were not quite sure what to do with someone with a press badge. For example, when I would ask about pricing, I was consistently given wholesale pricing by the case – something that never, ever happens at CES, E3, IFA, or even CEDIA, which is aimed at retailers/installers. The booths reflected this emphasis as well; there were aisles and aisles of educational toys, stuffed animals, and crafts – the sort of merchandise you find in independent toy stores. The odd thing was that there wasn’t much in the way of associated services (finance, inventory management software, buyer’s collectives). The odder thing was that none of the goods on display had any sort of connectivity.

I wasn’t shocked to find that green toys promising old fashioned play value from companies like Box Creations had not added WiFi routers to their cardboard forts. I understand – and appreciate – that independent stores are looking for products with play value that utilizes a child’s imagination and encourages deeper play than pushing a button on the back of a doll that says how much it likes fashion and hates math. However, I was a bit taken aback that connectivity was missing from products like science kits, where a smartphone app could be used as a way of instructing, monitoring, and interacting with the circuits/chemicals/biology components.

That’s not to say there weren’t any geeky toys on display:

• littleBits was showing off new components for its system, which can be best described as BugLabs for kids.

• LEGO Systems had new packaging for Life of George, which makes it much clearer that this is an iPhone/LEGO brick combination game rather than a regular box of LEGO. The goal of the game is to quickly build LEGO sculptures that match the picture on your iPhone, which then uses its camera to verify the accuracy of the model. Future variations on this theme are planned. LEGO’s Mindstorms robotics kits were not at the show because the company had nothing new to show off, but an official WiFi module and a 3G module would significantly broaden the uses for the system.

• ThinkGeek had a table with various products from its catalog and online store, along with a prototype of a Bluetooth game controller for iOS devices that looks like an original Nintendo 8 bit game pad. Still, my personal favorite was the lightsaber candle holder, which looks even better in real life as it does in the catalog.

• TeeGee launched an intriguing interactive stuffed animal of the same name. The twist on this modern Teddy Ruxpin (that looks like the offspring of a TeleTubby and a monkey) is that you’re supposed to hide an iPhone or iPod touch inside, which is used for voice recognition, speech, and gameplay.

• DANO Toys was showing off its App Crayon, a child’s stylus for the iPad, along with separate educational apps, such as one that teaches writing to children. There are a lot of styli out there, and some have much stronger brand associations; DANO needs to combine the hardware with the software if it wants to get shelf space.

• There were several vendors showing off Android tablets for children, but, frankly, they all looked terrible. Terrible interfaces, terrible educational software, terrible industrial design.

• Even if there were few genuinely mobile toys, mobile gaming’s influence was strongly felt: Angry Birds was just everywhere. I saw Angry Birds stuffed animals, Angry Birds nightlights, Angry Birds slingshots, foam rockets, flashlights, pens, backpacks, hats, keychains, swirly thingies… and more than one item I couldn’t identify. I even saw a fully analog version of the Angry Birds game: Angry Birds Knock On Wood, from Mattel. I can’t quite pinpoint why this should exist outside of physics teachers and Orthodox Jews suffering from smartphone withdrawal on the Sabbath, but it won a Toy of the Year award.

Finally, while it had nothing at all to do with my original notion of finding connected toys, I was intrigued by Nano Magnetics’ booth full of Nanodots sculptures. Their PR person gave me a vial of their tiny magnets, and I feel urged to warn SlashGear readers to avoid these addictive things at all costs, as there is an inverse relationship between playing with them and productivity. For example, I started writing this paragraph an hour ago.

Since this set received more than its prerequisite number of votes needed to bring it into reality with Lego through Cuusoo, busting up the records with a massive 10,000 votes, production has begun. You’ll be able to pre-order this set right this second through a group called J!NX and the full general release will happen sometime this summer. This set is composed of a massive 480 pieces, most of them tiny squares, and includes two of the game’s most recognizable components: the characters Steve and a lovely little green creeper.

Both the creeper and Steve will come with the set as “Micro Mobs” and the whole set will be able to keep your Minecraft nerd self satisfied with the ability to place these little guys under the ground in the dark – right where you go when you play the game. Sound fun to you? Grab a set right now or you WILL miss this release — J!NX has the set, again, on pre-sale for a grand total of $34.99. The general release will be $19.99, but don’t expect to find it in stores since even though there is a “general” specification to the non-pre-release, there are going to be a limited number sold total. Good luck!

*This was mistaken information, folks, the price of the set will be $34.99 no matter when you buy it!

[via Joystiq]

These toys have been sweeping the Android fan lines for over a year now, with the second set having been released right after Mobile World Congress 2011. Now we’ve got this unlimited set for all you wanters of an Android but no big need to have the super secrecy in which design you’re going to grab. This set will have more than seven unique paint jobs for you to choose from, each of them simply cute.

This edition will be available in stores such as Urban Outfitters starting this week, and will be arriving in FYE and Barnes & Noble stores starting later this month. This line was produced for North American retailers but may well find its way to Europe as well. Maybe we’ll see some more boxes in Spain when we get there at the end of this month! Have a peek at some example droids above and below, and be on the lookout at your local retailer soon!

This Hover Board, for those of you unaware, first appeared in the science fiction comedy action movie Back to the Future: Part II with Michael J Fox and Christopher Lloyd. In that movie it was a push-scooter-like toy which, once the character Marty McFly popped the bar off, became the greatest hovering skateboard in this history of future visions. This release will “glide” over most surfaces, and will be “movie accurate” but will not float over the ground like the film quite yet — Mattel has noted that it’s not quite 2015 yet, of course. Mattel’s press release reads like this:

Back to the Future Hover Board: Finally! This totally awesome 1:1 replica of the hover board from the BTTF 2 and BTTF 3 films includes multiple whooshing sounds and will glide over most surfaces (does not actually “hover” – check back in 2015 for that feature). We’ll be taking orders for it March 1 – March 20, 2012, and the final product will be shipped around November/December 2012. Because this is such a high-cost item, there will be a minimum number of orders required to go into production. If we don’t receive the minimum orders, won’t go into production and customers will not be charged. The price will be announced later this month. (Note: Hover board does not work on water.)

There are a couple of images released for this beast already, both showing off the spot where the front handle was ripped out by Marty in the movie – so we’re looking at quat might be the closest thing to the real deal thus far. You can see a poster from Toy Fair 2012 photographed by ToyArk in the gallery below with a small image of the bottom of the board as well as several slightly larger images of the board from MattyCollector who seem to be the only group on earth with a close-up view of the board thus far. Here’s hoping for more action soon!

Thanks to wirelessgoodness we recently learned that this neat and fun toy had cleared the FCC, and we can now happily tell you that it’s available right now. This nerf gun might be dumb, but I still want one and will probably be buying one for the shear amusement it will surely bring me.

Essentially what we have here is a USB-powered nerf gun with full aim controls via the free iOS application. Everything is done inside of the app and you can take control and aim with on-screen controls that work over Bluetooth. That isn’t all either. iLauncher also gives you the option to fire darts by simply shaking your iOS device. Awesome right?

If those pictures don’t have a few of you excited I don’t know what will. It might not be the coolest toy around but I’m pretty sure I’ll be getting hours of joy from this little device. It is available today via the link below and will run you about $100. Who wants one?

[via Brando]

Sound can also be recorded alongside video on the Intruder. The helicopter doesn’t record sound – but it allows the taking of quick aerial snapshots. The actual controller is your iPhone or Android device, so once the Wi-Spi application is installed you’re good to go. They can both upload their captures instantly to Facebook, YoutTube, or E-Mail.

Both models will be available Fall 2012 at most major and electronic retailers. We couldn’t get a demo of the units, but from the photos they look pretty sleek. The helicopter will retail at $119.99 and Intruder at $99.99.

Whereas the first-gen AR.Drone – which we reviewed back in 2010 - required you to keep track of where the front of the quadricopter was, the new Absolute Flight mode relies on a 3D magnetometer built to let the the second-gen model know what orientation it’s at in relation to the smartphone controlling it. That way, “the pilot no longer needs to care about the orientation of the AR.Drone 2.0′s front camera, which will accurately track the smartphone’s motion and tilt.”

The traditional steering method will still be available as an option, and you’ll now be able to pre-program preset flight paths. Meanwhile there are some tweaks to the sensor array, with a pressure sensor used to boost vertical stability, new blade designs for smoother flight, and a slightly altered hull. As before, two shells are supplied – one for indoor flight, one for outdoor – and there are flashing LEDs to keep it looking impressive.

Apps for both Android and iOS are available, and there’s an open development platform for third-party game and other app developers to tie into the new AR.Drone 2.0. According to the leaked release, the Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 will go on sale in Q2 2012, priced at $299. We’ll be keeping an eye on the skies at CES to see if we can spot it there.

[via Engadget and via AR.Drone Flyers]

“Hasbro continues to aggressively protect its brands and products” the company said in a statement, “and the specific actions we are taking today against ASUS underscores yet again Hasbro’s willingness to pursue companies who misappropriate our intellectual property for their own financial gain.” ASUS is yet to comment on the lawsuit, which was filed in Los Angeles, US last week.

The game company actually holds the trademark for “Transformers Prime” which covers “toy action figures; toy vehicles; toy robots covertible [sic] into other visual toy forms; board games; parlor games.” That’s among various other combinations of “Transformer” the company could call upon to demonstrate its existing use of the term.

ASUS’ tablet, meanwhile, earned its title because of its clever removable battery dock, turning a Tegra 3 slate into a notebook replacement as well as adding extra battery power. Check out our full review for all the details.

[Image credit: Toybin]

Universal Control is being positioned as a way to replace the existing, button-encrusted remote, using internet-enabled devices like tablets and smartphones to not only function as universal remotes but interact with what’s being broadcast. However, it could also have more advanced implications, such as “dual screen” setups as part of the burgeoning “internet of things” concept.

To demonstrate that, an industrial trainee placement graduate with the R&D team for six months took on the challenge of demonstrating how Universal Control could be integrated with an embedded device, in a creative way that would illustrate the “internet of things” potential. The end result was the screen-synchronized Dalek.

Unfortunately, since no commercial hardware actually supports Universal Control, the WiFi Daleks are going to remain concepts only for the time being.

[via Twitter; video via RegHardware; image via Rory Cellan-Jones]

And your dog won’t be the only one watching the action go down, your cat and your kid will have a fit as well. What you’ll see in the hands-on video is the device running on one of its automatic modes, registering what’s in front of it to make turns and back up and flip out squawking and beeping and flaring up lights, and that’s not the half of it! This little beast gets a full 15 minutes of use per 40 minutes of charging, and the charging might be the cutest part of the whole equation. See that action up in the main picture? That’s the tank plugged in with its fold-out USB stick into the side of our laptop PC. When it’s charged to the top, it lets you know with a successful “blerp!”

In this case, the device is autonomous and does seem to enjoy pestering the pets, as it were – here are explanations of each of the three control modes:

Mode 1: In obstacle avoidance mode, the Tankbot searches for obstacles and does not travel in a straight line. If no obstacles are found, it spins around and goes to sleep. Waving an object within a few centimeters in front of the product will wake it up. If a climbing angle of Tankbot is too steep, it will reverse turn.

Mode 2: In light and sound mode, if a climbing angle of the Tankbot is too steep, it will reverse turn.

Mode 3 Control: iDeskPet Universal Remote must be aimed at the Tankbot from a distance of 1m to 3m and towards the front black screen of the Tankbot and not from behind. If the item is not controlled for more than 60 seconds, it spins around and goes to sleep.

This device can run on its own artificial intelligence via sensors dictating its path, or you can control it with your smartphone. A simple download and setup process will have you rolling around in no time, just a simple dongle deal with a couple of lights plugged into your smartphone’s headphone jack has it connected with great ease. You’ll notice in the official app that there’s a small family of these vehicles growing as you tap, catch them all as the group expands! Now we’ve only to wait and see how long it is before these little beasts learn to fly or run in the water – boats and spaceships ahoy!

You can head over to RadioShack right now for the least expensive place to pick one of these up: $19.99 and a perfect stocking stuffer you shall have. Know what I mean?

The truck comes with a little RF transmitter that you put onto the bottom of the iPhone. That turns the motion of the iPhone in your hand into signals the truck can understand. If you don’t like the motion control method, you can change the app to touch control allowing you to use a finger to drive the truck. The sensor mode control seems easy enough though. All you need to do is tilt the iPhone in the direction you want to go and the truck moves. It also has three presets on in the app to make the truck zigzag, spin, or dance to music.

The app also controls the speed that the truck moves and the toy can be used inside or out. The truck comes in red or black versions. The truck itself has a rechargeable battery inside and can be charged from USB or an included quick charger is offered for on the go power. You can also control the truck using the iPod touch or iPad. Check out the video to see the truck in action. You can pick one up for about $70.

The laser is under review by the Guinness World Records folks to be listed as the world’s brightest in the record books. Since the laser has such a bright beam and such a long range, Wicked Lasers offers the disclaimer that users should not aim the laser at an aircraft or at satellites. Wicked says that the laser could interfere with sensors on the satellites. The laser has 1W of power and produces 86 million lux brightness making it appear to be over 8,000 times brighter than looking at the sun.

The laser has five modes of operation and uses an integrated thermopile detector. The sensor detects excess heat and lowers the operating current to keep the laser operating. The body of the laser is made from aluminum to make it last. You can buy the laser right now for $299.99 in 300mW power, but the big 1W laser will cost you nearly a grand. Wicked promises that the laser is legal to own. Check it out in the video below.

The remote control is basically a sled into which your iPhone or iPod touch slots, hooked up via the headphone socket. That means you could also use it – though not dock it with – your iPad; Griffin has released the remote app as a free download in the App Store. The remote sled asks for four AAA batteries, while the chopper itself recharges via USB; a single charge is good for around eight minutes of flight, and you can save up to three routes via the app so as to repeat them later on.

The Griffin HELO TC is on sale now, and comes complete with spare rotor blades just in case you’re a klutz. Up to three can be flown simultaneously, thanks to support for three different infrared signal sets that won’t confuse everybody else’s helicopter.

The Air Swimmers don’t look like a blimp though, these things come in two styles with a clown fish and a shark. Some people will recognize them as Jaws and Nemo. These things move around in the air using only their tails, which is pretty cool. You can apparently find them in some stores and you can order them online too. At the time of writing the ordering site direct from the makers was down due to high-loads and the store selling them is out of stock.

Both the shark and the clownfish have the same IR remote control. You can control the climb and descent of the fish along with the tail fin. Wireless range is up to 40-feet and both of the versions are 57-inches long and 36-inches tall. You will need a large room to have fun with these. All you can do for now if you want one is keep an eye on the website for them to come back in stock.

[via Geekosystem]

The hacker is Subtours and the hack takes a Kinect and some other parts that hook up to a stuffed monkey. The monkey has ten servomotors inside and is connected to an Arduino microcontroller as well. The servomotors activate a metal skeleton inside the monkey. All the parts inside the monkey together work to allow the user to become the puppet master thanks to Kinect’s motion tracking.

The robotic, servo activated monkey dances and mimics the users exact moves. The Kinect camera is inside the white thing you see above the monkey on the wall in the photo. You can check out the monkey hack in the video below.

[via PCWorld]

The little cubes are wireless and measure 1.5-inches. They have internal batteries good for about four hours of play and the blocks are interactive and perform different play elements depending on how they are moved. For instance, you can move the blocks from a horizontal line to a vertical line or even stack them and the game play changes. Inside the little blocks hides an ARM Cortex M3 processor. Sifteo created their own wireless protocol to allow the blocks to communicate over the space of a few inches with little power consumption.

The blocks can also connect to a USB dongle plugged into a computer within a 20-foot range. The big question is if the blocks will grab the interest of consumers. Three of the cubes will sell for $145 with each additional cube costing $45. Players will be able to download games for the cube system for $5. Each pack of Sifteo Cubes will come with a creativity kit that allows the creation of games by the individual with no programming experience needed. The cubes are up for pre-order right now and will start shipping in September.

[via VentureBeat]

I end up filling balloons the whole time while they try to bust them on my head. The balloons are a pain in the butt to tie off. That is what takes so long. ThinkGeek has a new toy called the Tie Knot Water Balloon Filler that is perfect for balloons and just about anyone can use it. The thing will fill your balloon for you and then all you need to do is wrap the end of the balloon around the tie part.

After twisting and wrapping the end of the balloon, you just slip it off and the thing ties itself. The claim is you can fill and tie a balloon in 30 seconds. I bet my kids could even use this so I can get some water balloon payback of my own. You can buy one now for $9.99.

Today there is a new musical whatnot that you can collect. Rather than a shirt that you can’t wear every day (unless you don’t worry about things like hygiene) the latest in the musical line is a guitar bag called the Electronic Rock Guitar Bag. The bag has the same style guitar on it that the first of the shirt series offered and has its own battery powered amp that you can hang on the outside. The bag will play real sounding cords that were recorded from a guitar.

The bag will let you play all major cords and the bag itself really works too. It is large enough to hold a laptop up to 17-inches. Inside are two large pockets, six small pockets, and a zipper pouch for your phone. The bag is made from thick black canvas and has fake leather accents and a magnetic closure for the main flap. The bag will ship August 28 for $49.99.

[via ThinkGeek]

The Power Up is a toy made by Tailor Toys and it has a little electric motor on the back, a long stick, and a propeller on the back. The capacitor is actually on the front of the paper plane and the propeller is on the back in a pusher layout. The capacitor gets power from three AA batteries in a little charge box.

A 20-second charge is enough power for 90 seconds of flight. It seems that I would have the same issue of balance with any paper plane I made for this motor. You can buy the Power Up for $17.49 on Amazon and it looks really cool. See the thing in action on the video below.

[via GizMag]

The KickStarter pages says that the car will sell for $59, assuming the guys trying to bring the project to market can scrape up the $200,000 that they want to start the project. The high price is because the cars have to be built in bulk apparently. The controls for the car are only through an Android app that connects to the car with Bluetooth.

The app will allow the smartphone accelerometer to control the car by turning and there are onscreen controls too. The car is 1:20 scale and is made to look like a Nissan GTR. It has a 30-foot wireless range and can pair with up to eight smartphones. Power for the car comes from three AAA batteries and the car measures 8″ x 3.2″ x 2.75″. The phone or tablet has to be running Android 2.1 or higher to run the app. So far, it has only raised $2,908 and has 25 more days.

[via Android Community]

Intended for indoor use only, the Helo TC comes with a “flight deck module” which is basically an IR dock for your iPhone. That converts the output from the app into IR control signals which the helicopter responds to, either using various on-screen joysticks and controls or – thanks to the accelerometers – with tilt-to-fly, shifting the orientation of the handset to move the chopper.

Flight time from a full charge – via USB – is around eight minutes, and there are five LEDs mounted on the Helo TC for daring night-time raids. Happily the main and tail rotors are replaceable, for the inevitable post-crash recovery, while the flight deck module uses four AAA batteries rather than sucking down your iPhone’s charge.

It’s not the first time we’ve seen iOS devices used to remotely-control a flying toy: Parrot’s AR.Drone was the must-have quadricopter of 2010. However, whereas the AR.Drone was a hefty $300 at launch, the Griffin is considerably cheaper. You don’t get WiFi control or streaming video, but you can store up to three pre-programmed flight plans in the app and have the ‘copter repeat them later. Griffin tells us to expect the Helo TC to hit the market in time for Christmas 2011.

The picks are shaped like your typical guitar pick, though they are significantly fatter than the real thing. The Air Picks are form a company called Flair in the UK and will hit stores in the next few weeks. There are several versions and each have three songs inside. I get the feeling that the tunes are the guitar portion only, but that isn’t clear.

They are songs you will know too with tracks from famous artists like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. The toy will only play the next note in the song if you strum your air guitar. Pulling off that Angus Young kick move as you strum said air guitar is optional. Tracks include Jumping Jack Flash, Satisfaction, Born to be Wild, Smoke on the Water, and Sweet Home Alabama. I wonder if these will launch in the US as well.

[via Pocket-lint]

I’m trying to not have a nerd aneurism over the trifecta of geek perfection this thing embodies with LEGO, RC hardware, and Star Wars all in one device. The crane the Sandcrawler has is also remote controlled as is the conveyor belt. The interior of the crawler is fully detailed and looks like the set of the latest LEGO Star Wars video game.

There is so much to talk about and see on this project that worlds can’t do the thing justice. You have to check out the video below to see what the Sandcrawler has to offer. This is a good way to spend nine months of work for a geek with time on his hands.

[via Brothers-brick]

The Unimog kit is being produced by LEGO to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the truck and its kit has 2000 pieces and is the largest Technic set ever sold by LEGO. I would end up losing at least 500 of those parts during the build. The kit is a 1:12.5 scale, which considering the size of the real vehicle makes the Technica set gigantic as well. The features of the model are the same as the real vehicle.

The Unimog LEGO kit gets a winch on the front and a pneumatically operated crane on the rear than can move 360-degrees. A snowplow is optional as well. This is one of the kits that has pistons you have to install into the little LEGO motor. The kit will cost you about $250 when it lands in August. Go ahead and add this to your Christmas list now.

[via Jalopnik]

This Zuckerburg bobble-headed-looking doll comes with a number of amusing odds and ends. The Like it button can be replaced with a Poke button if you’re feeling a little punchy, or pokey as the case may be. The kit also comes included with customizable speech bubbles that stick into the back of his big head. Make him say something Johnny!

[via M.I.C. Gadget]

The Keepon team say they’ve worked hard to keep the “essence of the Keepon character while replicating the robot’s most engaging interactive traits”; you can see the original in action in the video below. Meanwhile, a percentage of the profit from each My Keepon sold is going to be re-directed to help fund BeatBots’ research-grade robots for therapists and researchers.

My Keepon will go on sale later this year – a US partner is due to be announced on February 14 – priced at $40 or £29.99 in the UK.

[via CrunchGear]

Press Release:

“My Keepon”

Guide SRP £29.99 or USD$40.00

Wow! Stuff, hot on the heels of an award-winning 2010 and the wildly successful “Dave the Funky Shoulder Monkey,” prepares to do it again in 2011 with their new blockbuster toy, “My Keepon”!

With over 4 million views on YouTube, music videos featuring a robot named Keepon have stoked the public’s desire for this cute and lovable yellow character. In addition to Keepon’s wild internet popularity, it has been named one of the “Top 10 robots of all time.” Until recently, Keepon has been limited to labs and institutions, where it is breaking new ground in the fields of social robot design and autism research.

But now, a toy version of the character is on show for the first time at the European Toy Fair in Nuremberg, Germany. Toy manufacturer Wow! Stuff is expecting My Keepon to be the year’s hottest toy — not just in the UK, where Wow! Stuff is based, but throughout the world, having agreed to a USA launch with a major retailer (due to be announced on February 14th). Richard North, Wow! Stuff’s Managing Director, announced, “We are launching a blockbuster toy that will sell in similar quantities to last year’s mega-hit Dave, but this time we’re going global.” North added that, during London Toy Fair previews, “My Keepon had all of the retailers in absolute disbelief. You could count the number of wows exclaimed in each meeting as we presented this exceptional toy.” Wow! Stuff’s claims for blockbuster sellers have proven spot- on to date, with runaway success Dave the Funky Shoulder Monkey selling more than 270,000 units in the 3 months before Christmas 2010 in the UK alone.

For My Keepon, Wow! Stuff has collaborated with Keepon’s designers at BeatBots LLC. BeatBots co-founders Dr. Hideki Kozima and Dr. Marek Michalowski have been developing and using Keepon in Japan and in the USA as a robotic research platform for studying social development and as a telepresence tool in autism therapy. A meeting of minds occurred when Dr. Graeme Taylor, Director at Wow! Stuff and Head of Inventor Relations, wanted to help make a version of Keepon available to the robot’s massive and growing fan base, as evident on YouTube, Facebook, and countless blogs. For their part, Kozima and Michalowski also wanted to meet this public demand for the character of Keepon while making the high-end Keepon Pro robot more widely available to researchers and institutional users.

Wow!’s design experts and robotics engineers, based in their recently-opened Los Angeles office, worked closely with BeatBots to design a toy that captured the essence of the Keepon character while replicating the robot’s most engaging interactive traits. These features include reactivity to touch and an amazing ability to listen to music, detect the beat, and dance in perfect rhythm!

But most importantly, Wow! Stuff and BeatBots are working to ensure that the success of My Keepon will directly support the social welfare goals at the heart of the Keepon story. “A percentage of the profit from each My Keepon will go towards subsidizing and donating BeatBots’ research-grade robots to therapists and researchers,” said Taylor. “We are so proud to make Keepon available to a broader audience, and we will choose retail partners who also feel proud to sell him.”

Michalowski commented, “Our dream is to make Keepon Pro units widely available to researchers and practitioners. Our work with Keepon suggests that the character’s simplicity, combined with a caregiver’s ability to conduct mediated interactions through the robot, can facilitate social engagement in a novel and exciting way. We hope that the toy version of our robot can channel public excitement towards general autism awareness while supporting our distribution of tools and resources to people and organizations around the world working to understand and treat it.”

About BeatBots: BeatBots LLC designs socially interactive robotic characters for entertainment, research, and art. For more details about Keepon, visit http://beatbots.net or contact Dr. Marek Michalowski at info@beatbots.net or +1.415.894.0065.

You probably won’t be able to take the self-loading LEGO dice tower into a casino in Vegas, or at least not take it to a table with you, but it couldn’t hurt to try, right? After all, if you’re a superstitious person, sometimes you just can’t roll your own die, and there might not be anyone around that you trust enough to win you a hundred thousand dollars, or lose it all in one swift throw of the dice.

The LEGO dice tower uses a lever to load the dice into its tower, and then it will roll them out the bottom for you. Simple enough of a design, but one that makes us want to be a kid again and start building crazy contraptions. Check out the video below to see the tower in action.

[via UberGizmo]

One geek decided that he could make a better Nerf gun, which is is a good thing. Some of the Nerf weapons aren’t exactly high quality. The dude scrounged up the parts needed and set about building one that reminds me a bit of a Luger in its shape.

The dude used a 32mm ID PVC pipe for the barrel, aluminum extrusion pipe, wood for the grip, and other plastic and metal bits to fire. He used a cut down AR-15 spring. I wonder where the trigger came from. That seems like it would be the hard part to find.

Via Make

The idea is that you’ll want to stick a few crayons in the machine, melt them down with a bright light, and then let them get combined into one crayon. And yes, Crayola does expect you to get some combinations in there. If they created something like this, of course they knew that the combinations that would come out of it would be pretty unique. But, at least your kids have new crayons to use.

To make the device work, you’ll need to find yourself a colorless 60-watt candelabra bulb, and a wall outlet to plug it into. If you’re interested, you can pick up one of the Crayon Makers from Crayola for $21.93 right from the company’s website.

[via Core77]

This new slingshot was a do it yourself project from KipKay, which would initially make it a one-of-a-kind item, but he’s happy to show you how he made it in the video, which you can watch below. So, if you’re someone who likes to put things together, which include lasers, and you’ve missed your slingshot of your childhood days, here’s a great way to bring it back to life, with a nice enhancement.

The design features chunks of aluminum, and a single 6mm red laser diode. The whole thing is run by a pair of AA batteries, which are tucked away inside. What’s better, though, is that the handle works as a storage compartment for your ammunition, too. Go ahead and check out the video below, to see the laser-guided slingshot in action.

[via DVICE]

If you’re an avid user of Twitter, then you know that updating the micro-blogging service is very important on a day-to-day basis. And if you’re a dog owner, then there’s probably been a few times where you’ve felt compelled to tweet something about your lovable animal companion. But, what if you could let your dog tweet on its own? Thanks to a new gadget called the Puppy Tweets medallion, you now can.

You put the medallion on your dog’s collar, and then set up the device with a new Twitter account. Once all that is done, every time your dog barks, a randomly generated tweet will be sent out to the Twitter account, which will subsequently post it to the Twitter service. There are 500 messages stored in the medallion, so while that may seem like a lot, it won’t be too long at all before repeated messages start showing up on your dog’s Twitter account.

The device is available right now, actually, and you can pick it up from Think Geek‘s website. For the $35 price tag, it’s not that expensive of a gift, especially if you’ve been trying to figure out what to get your dog for Christmas. Talk about the perfect gift.

[via TG Daily]

Simple enough in their design, it wouldn’t be too far of a leap to suggest that they’re cute, too. Designed to look like animals that live in colder climates, you’ll find a peguin, walrus, seal, and polar bear waiting for you every time you open the refrigerator. Every time you do open the door, they’ll be happy to greet you and say nice things, but everything changes when you leave the door open for too long. They’ll quickly turn nasty, telling you how much energy you’re wasting.

If you’ve ever heard of the Japanese hip-hop crew Romancrew, then the voices of the animals will sound familiar enough. You’ll be able to get one of your own for about $25 each, or 1,980 yen. They’re available right now in the Appare Store, if you’re trying to find ways to make sure that you save energy every way that you can.

[via OhGizmo!]

The RM-KZ1 may not have a name that anyone would love, but the design is pretty simple. The company created it specifically for kids, as if you couldn’t already tell just by looking at it. And, it’s designed to take the abuse that comes along with being a small gadget in the hands of a curious toddler. The controller is splash-proof, which means that even if your kids start drooling all over it, the remote should keep on working. It also has programmable buttons.

What’s best, though, is the “volume limiting” feature, which prevents your child from turning up or down the volume by three levels within 30 seconds. So, no more watching your volume level sky rocket to the top of the meter. The controller is available right now in Target locations across the nation, and it will only cost you $18.

[via Ubergizmo]