WowWee - SlashGear

Posts Tagged ‘WowWee’

WowWee Femisapien routine programming demo videos

By Chris Davies on Tuesday, Jun 17th 2008 1 Comment

WowWee Femisapien WowWee have been showing off the latest moves by their upcoming Femisapien robot, the first “female” ‘bot in their stable and certainly the most graceful (and also recently seen using the Sega Toys E.M.A. Robot name). After the cut you can see two new videos, the first explaining how custom movement routines can be programmed simply by moving Femisapien’s limbs around, while the second shows a staged fencing match between two of the robots. Comprising five motors with a total twelve degrees of freedom, Femisapien can be left to explore and react to her surroundings (in ‘Attentive’ mode) or programmed and these routines replayed (in ‘Learning’ and ‘Responsive’ modes).

Continued »

WowWee Tri-Bot reviewed: low cost, tilt-sensor fun

By Chris Davies on Friday, May 30th 2008 No Comments

When WowWee’s Tri-Bot launches this Summer, it’ll be one of the cheapest ways to get your hands on the nifty three-wheel omni-directional base from the company. With an expected price of $99, the robot may lack the (creepy) animated face of Mr Personality but it does have a tilt-sensor remote control that, in a manner similar to the Wiimote, can guide the robot around just by gesturing. Robotics-obsessive Robert Oschler has scored some pre-release time with the Tri-Bot, and you can check out his video review after the cut.

Continued »

SlashGear Week in Review – May 11th

By Chris Davies on Sunday, May 11th 2008 1 Comment

This week’s highlight has been the SlashGear team knuckling down to cover HTC’s London launch of the Touch Diamond smartphone. Our hands-on video of the Windows Mobile 6.1 device is pulling in some serious views, so if the thought of a 3G iPhone is leaving you cold then you need to be checking out the competition.

HTC Touch Diamond

Meanwhile, budget ultraportables continued their onslaught, with pre-order pricing for both MSI’s Wind and HP’s XP version of the 2133 Mini-Note announced. ASUS hasn’t been letting the grass grow under them either, confirming that the Eee PC 900 will hit the US on May 12th. Slightly bigger, word of Dell’s upcoming Inspiron 1435, 1535 and 1735 ranges leaked, bringing with them some of the XPS’ specs including optional 3G and Blu-ray.

Continued »

WowWee Chatterbot Dog – Give yourself a little distraction

By Ewdison Then on Thursday, May 8th 2008 No Comments

Who needs another distraction? Having to work from home most of the time, I have plenty distraction even when I’m in my home office alone – but a little distraction doesn’t hurt when it could releases you from tense working hours. So why not put a WowWee Chatterbot on your desk?

chatterbot 3

video of quick demo after the jump

Continued »

CES 2008: WowWee unveil Rovio web-controlled webcam & creepy Mr Personality robot

By Chris Davies on Saturday, Jan 5th 2008 4 Comments

Set to be bothering the ankles of CES explorers this year are two new ‘bots from the WowWee stables: the slick, beetle-like Rovio and the frankly disturbing Mr Personality (shown after the cut). The Rovio, capable of being controlled from any internet-enabled device thanks to its WiFi b/g hookup, has a built-in movable VGA webcam complete with sound, and can stream live footage across the network to wherever you are in the world.

WowWee Rovio robot

Continued »

Remote-control Roboquad turned security guard with Skype hack

By Chris Davies on Friday, Aug 31st 2007 No Comments

Our robot-obsessed friend Robert Oschler pointed out this awesome hack involving Skype, a WowWee Roboquad and internet connection, that lets you call up your robot from anywhere in the world, control it remotely and – thanks to a head-mounted video camera – stream live media back to you. Here’s a clip of the beastie in action:

Continued »

Roboquad spider-bot reviewed

By Chris Davies on Friday, Jul 6th 2007 2 Comments

WowWee’s Roboquad gives me the creeps. There, I’ve said it. It’s Robosapien may have been a vaguely friendly ape-like bot, but this multi-legged arachnoid/crab hybrid monster thing obviously triggers some long-forgotten childhood fears of mine. Maybe I was attacked by Mark Tilder wearing a spider suit. Anyway, PC Mag have tested out the white beast, and come away sounding more than a little confused.

WowWee Roboquad

Continued »

Roboquad spider-robot gets pre-orders and commercial

By Chris Davies on Thursday, May 31st 2007 No Comments

As much as I admire the technology inside Wow Wee’s latest, the Roboquad, there’s something about a scuttling spider-robot that freaks me out. Perhaps it’s partly to do with the degree of AI that makes him inquisitive all of his own accord. Using the supplied remote control would be one thing, but having it suddenly dash out from under a chair would be quite another! Anyway, courtesy of our friends over at Robots Rule we’ve got the first Roboquad commercial:

Continued »

WowWee Dragonfly takes first review flight

By Chris Davies on Wednesday, Feb 14th 2007 1 Comment

Now I’m no pillar of the community (though those rumours that I shoot at homeless people from the back of a pick-up truck are both libellous and untrue) but even I would draw the line at getting a poor WowWee Dragonfly amped up on full-sugar Dr Pepper and watching it dizzy around the room. Those tricksy devils at PC Magazine obviously have no morals, however, and see nothing wrong in giving the little fella a sip of the good stuff in order to get a decent review.

WowWee Dragonfly

They found him to be tricky to get used to initially, but soon were doing spirals and controlled flights (although only for about 10 seconds before crashing). Build quality was surprisingly resilient to unexpected landings, and battery life matched up to the promised seven minutes per twenty minute charge.

Continued »

Watch where you step – WowWee’s Roboboa!

By Chris Davies on Thursday, Jan 11th 2007 1 Comment

While I’m jonesing like crazy to get my hands on WowWee’s Dragonfly robot, that doesn’t mean I’ll turn my nose or heels up at any other mechanical wonder that passes my way. So I find very interesting the news from Robosapien.tk forum member RSV3L, who apparently has the occasional conversation with WowWee founder Mark Tilden, about the latest in line to the Robosapien throne: Roboboa.

Roboboa 2

As the name might suggest, it’s a robot snake. But actually that does it a disservice – it’s a dancing robot snake. We have RSV3L to thank for the following details:

It’s a dancing robot snake with cool lights and moves its’ body in time to music.

It is also a futuristic alarm clock.

More details, as well as links to video of Roboboa in action after the cut!

Continued »