It's hard to believe that our fave dinosaur, Pleo, has already been on the planet for an entire year. PleoWorld is celebrating the occasion with an incredible anniversary offer. If you have not yet purchased one for yourself or want to get one for a friend, you will receive a $100.00 discount if you order on their site. The deal is only available for 2 weeks, so head over to their site before July 12, enter the code PLEOWORLDISONE, and take advantage of the $235.00 price.
It may look like a bot, but the Novint Falcon is actually a game controller. The device allows you to play in 3-D while it moves up and down, left and right, and forward and backwards. The company claims that using the Falcon adds a realistic touch to virtual images by feeling the character's action. While we would probably hold back unless we could test one for ourselves, a Limited Edition is available for $189.99 that comes with Newton's Monkey Business, the Feelin' It Sports Pack, 24 mini-games, and two grips.
Can't get enough of Wall-E? We found all kinds of stuff that you can get to feed your cravings. There are already hundreds of products out that include the soundtrack, books on the making of, a plug and play toy/game, plushies, party supplies, posters, masks, remote controlled toys, mini-figures, and tattoos! If you get to see the flick before we do (you can even pre-order that,) save us some popcorn and let us know what you thought about it.
Sometimes the best bots never leave Japan. Bandai's Tachikoma can read your e-mail, play mini-games with you, and devise and use applications. The 4-legged, 2-clawed creature connects by USB. Even if you manage to hit the country and score one for $185.26, you had better pick up a translator, as both the manual and software are in Japanese.
Tomy's iSOBOT has the distinction of being Guinness' "smallest humanoid robot in production." The 6 1/2" high bot can do somersaults, push-ups, stand on one leg, and a smattering of kung fu. With 80 pre-programmed movements that can result in 240 in a sequence, he will respond to verbal commands. The little guy can say over 200 words and phrases, can recognize up to ten different voices, and plays a mean air guitar. iSOBOT has been created with 17 servomotors, a gyro-sensor to keep his balance, and 17 different points of sensitivity. Best of all, he can be yours for $199.99.
Want a dog, but don't want to train it? Hasbro has a new line of robotic pups in their FurReal Friends collection. Biscuit, recommended for kids over 5, is about 2 ft. tall and has sensors in his head, nose, back, and ears. Pet him and he wags his tail. He will also respond to 6 other commands, barks, and has a MSRP of $179.99.
Tumble is a one-trick pony puppy that will respond to you if you pat him on the back or rub his tummy. He also yelps a bit and comes with a price of $39.99. Look for both this fall.
It didn't take long to get the star of KungFu Panda to become an animatronic buddy. Mattel's Kickin' Po has sounds and sensors to react to your feeble attempts at ninja moves. Apparently, he wields his nun chuck and will attempt to roundhouse kick you when you least expect it. And of course, Jack Black provides the voice. About 13" tall, he is available for about $29.99.
And if you are the type that like a fighting chance, there is also a KungFu Panda Rock'Em Sock'Em Robots with added kicking action for $19.99.
Love bots but hate the batteries? Take a look at Robot-a-Day, a site that does just what it says, offers a limited-edition stuffed bot daily from Erin Wilk, who also runs Etsy anatomyofaskirt. We especially liked her Invisibot, because we figure it has less chance of being stolen by those who would covet our purchase. At a size of 3 x 5 1/2 x 3 inches, there are only 5 of them available. Most of Erin's bots retail for $40.00 apiece and come in lots of 5 -10.
More Wall-E Toys Than You Can Shake a Robot Arm At
We've been following the Wall-E Toys robotic toy roll out over at Toyology, and we're now posiitive there's going to be more Wall-E toys than any other Pixar movie inspired toys to date. We think the majority of the figures look dead on, but many of the features of the toys fall short. We'll give you our impressions as we get a few of the more advanced toys, and have time to see if they actually feel like sentient robots or just talking toys.
We had the original Lego Mindstorms way back in 1999. We built a few robots, but really enjoyed the combination of programming the robots we built and building them. Mindstorms NXT is more than a toy, and if you're buying this for your son or daughter, remember they can build anything they put their mind to. Building anything that moves like a robot is really rewarding, and sure to put a smile on their face.
All-new NXT Intelligent Brick with 32-bit microprocessor, more memory and FLASH 3
Interactive Servo motors feature built-in rotation sensors to align speed for precise control and new sound sensor reacts to sound commands, patterns and tones
577 specially selected LEGO TECHNIC elements for sturdy and durable building and improved functionality and movement
Intuitive, icon-based drag-and-drop program "building" environment 6 AA batteries required (not included)
With the new Pixar and Disney produced Wall-E movie coming very soon, it's no surprise that Disney is getting into the robot toy craze. Disney Consumer Products is collaborating with Pixar, Thinkway Toys and WowWee to Develop Robotic Toys That Talk, Dance, Fly, Respond to Commands, Feature Motion Tracking and more.
The robotic toys are inspired by Wall-E, the adorable robot from the Disney·Pixar theatrical release of the same name set to debut this summer, and Tinker Bell, the beloved Disney Fairy. The iDance Wall-E dancing boombox will be available in June; the Ultimate Wall-E robotic toy and the remote control Tinker Bell flying toy will be available this fall. With life-like movements and features designed to impress and delight fans of all ages, these new robotic toys are anticipated to be big hits with holiday shoppers this year.
Oh Clocky - where were you when we missed our final exams in college? Chasing your alarm clock around will definitely get your blood flowing early in the morning and get you to your exams. Clocky will not turn off until you find it, and laying there with Clocky roaming around won't make sleeping in easy either.
There's really nothing like a chattering robot dog to wake you in the morning or when you get a new email. The WowWee Chatterbot will not only chatter whatever info you feed it, but you can be rest assured it will eventually drive you nuts.
The $49.99 Chatterbot is available in three characters, the Devil/Angel, Dog, and the Fairy Godfather.
Works with email, calendar events, instant messaging programs and more!
“Speaks” through its own built-in speaker
Connects to computer via USB Plug in an MP3 player to use as a standalone speaker*
Easy to install software compatible with both PC and Intel® Macs For interactive fun, trigger random comments and factoids