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I fear for my job
My social contract stipulates that I buy consumer robots, so I was particularly interested in seeing how Wow Wee’s much anticipated Robosapien lives up to its hype. The Robosapien is a $99 remote controlled toy robot aimed at eight year olds and their developmental equivalents. I picked one up at BestBuy and brought it in to torment the office.
The Robosapien’s clever visual design gives the appearance of a lot more articulation than his seven motorized joints (two in each arm, one in the torso, one in each leg) actually permit. His loud motorized grunts make him poorly suited for “desk toy” duty, which seems to be a demographical oversight on the part of the developers. His programming mode is hokey – you can string together many actions but there’s no flow control of any kind. Still, I’ve seen people refer to HTML as a “programming language”, so I’m willing to give Wow Wee’s marketeers a pass. It’s no AIBO, but at 1/20th the price, it’s a fun and impressive diversion.
More disturbingly, the Robosapien can stumble around the room, pick up a coffee cup and respond to sudden noises. That’s pretty much my whole management style, so I’m starting to feel inadequate in front of the staff. Maybe I should look into enrolling in an executive MBA program to sharpen my leadership skills. Either that, or Robo is going to have a nasty accident on the front stairs.
May 18, 2004 | Permalink
Comments
Maybe you can hook it up to your SpoofStick? So now your Robosapien will come running over and deliver a helpful ("BE CAREFUL!") warning when you venture into some PayPal/Ebay phishing scam.
Posted by: gavin | May 18, 2004 3:00:29 PM
Don't taunt happy fun SpoofStick!
Posted by: Phil Libin | May 18, 2004 3:43:10 PM
maybe you should actually use robosapien before you go reviewing him again, theres no way in hell he could pickup a coffee cup..
a full and true review is here
www.fullspeed.co.nz/robosapien.
Posted by: Mark | May 26, 2004 10:37:17 PM
Mark,
Thanks for the friendly note. As I said, I bought one and “used” it quite a bit. It’s sitting on my desk right now.
Robosapien can pick up many light items – including paper, plastic or Styrofoam cups. In fact he comes with a black plastic cup. I never said he could pick up a heavy mug, which is apparently what you have in mind.
Posted by: Phil Libin | May 26, 2004 11:12:24 PM
For your information, I very much enjoy picking up coffee cups and flinging them across the room while I perform a fetching dance.
Posted by: RoboSapien | May 27, 2004 12:55:16 PM
"More disturbingly, the Robosapien can stumble around the room, pick up a coffee cup and respond to sudden noises"
wrong.. do what mark said and actually buy one before you make comments like this, unless you drink your coffee out of paper cups he wont be pickup up your cup in a hurry. try drinking your coffee out of the pastic cup he came with and see how long you last.
Posted by: Jason | Jun 2, 2004 6:32:14 PM
I'll be pickup up YOUR cup real soon now if you're not careful, bub. And then I'll perform a fetching dance.
Posted by: RoboSapien | Jun 2, 2004 9:05:09 PM
I'll pick up your coffee cup!
Posted by: Bubba | Jun 16, 2004 11:36:46 AM
I'll pick up your coffee cup!
Posted by: Bubba | Jun 16, 2004 11:37:37 AM
Toy looks cool, but it cant pick anything up anything worth while.. walks like a retard`o, and im sure,.. due to the fact that i cant find remote specs on range.. that the range indeed does suck...
Its a shame its still a Toy, hopefully soon i can have a plastic motorized slave.
Posted by: Dk0r | Jul 24, 2004 12:36:54 AM
