Gizmodo
WowWee, makers of such fine products as cat-hunting dragonflies, have unveiled a new, fairly badass three-wheeling robot for home use that's not all the different from the specs we've seen in Sony's new rumored AIBO. A webcam-enabled robot featuring a Northstar GPS system, you can spy on anyone in your house from anywhere in the world.
WowWee, makers of such fine products as Syncing with your PC via Wi-Fi, WowWee sees users controlling the Rovio through the internet, cellphones, and yes, even game consoles. What's really promising is that instead of just navigating through your hallways via arm-mounted webcam, you can set waypoints (aka bathrooms) within your house and send your evil minion Rovio there with the click of a button.
The Rovio can also roam your house autonomously, recharging itself at a station ala Roomba. And while LEDs will illuminate your dark, cavernous home with ease, WowWee hasn't gone so far as to offer a decent laser cannon to ward off that prick you inevitably catch boinking your wife.
(On an unrelated note, honey, I may be in Vegas, but I see everything. And I mean everything.
Comments
I gotta say, WowWee makes some damn fine products.
Any scoop on the best free swag from the booths yet?
Can this control that flying egg so i can attack people over the internet?
Gotta say, WowWee's got a real strong showing this year. At least two of these are allready on my must buy list.
A robotic upskirt camera for those who don't wish to leave the comfort of their home...
@Synthaxx: Better yet, can the flying egg be launched from this. The Rovio comes to a staircase that it can't get up / down and it launches the egg to go up / down the stairs.
Gimme!
whatever happened to the WowWee Scoty (the talking/ watching/colorful tower they were doing with Philips)???
Superb, is it just me or is no one else excited by omni wheels?
I love the way those things can travel in any direction.
@Z: Makes it easier for the robot to find and kill you.
I'd love one of those.
Launching/controlling the WowWee Flying Death Orb/Sneetch (Harry Potter Model) would also be a plus.
Say thankya.
Take that, Spykee! When you are (at least) several months late on your ship date, another product comes along and blows you away. I've canceled my Spykee order and will buy a Rovio. Oh, but go ahead and keep announcing new Spykee models before you've released your first.
This design is nothing new. This type of robot has been on ebay for more then a year. The rover on ebay has more functionability, including mapping layout in real time and forming network with other robots for interacting with each other. It starts at $299 right now. Search robot rover on ebay, rovio is a hack.
Rovio looks alot like the rover robot on ebay. This is not a new concept, or novel design. A Youtube reply to the rovio will be up tonight. Also look at lebeaux.biz, full details of this concept have been protect under copyrights since 2006.
You can see another video of Rovio at www.youtube.com/watch?v=iexOHSdXa7Q
The clip shows Rovio using the NorthStar system to navigate around the room on its own. This is part of a remote demo, where visitors to WowWee's booth at CES can command a Rovio stationed at our offices in Pasadena.
Thanks,
Evolution Robotics
This is a newer looking version of an existing concept. The original internet accessed rover is actually autonomous, this one is not. Check out the youtube video at:
[www.youtube.com]
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