Robosapien

I picked up a Wowwee Robosapien at Wal-Mart last night. When they first came out, they sold for about $100 - I got it for $35. It is cute enough for kids, but sophisticated enough for adults.

Robosapien is the first robot based on the science of applied biomorphic robotics. Robosapien is designed by Mark Tilden. Tilden is a robotics physicist who has worked for NASA, DARPA and JPL through Los Alamos National Laboratory. He developed the basics for biomorphic robotics in 1988; Robosapien is the first commercially available robot based upon this principle. Tilden is best know for his BEAM robotics.

Robosapien is ready to go right out of the box (just install batteries). Robosapien can be operated or programmed via remote control. It has a set of pre-programmed functions or you can program your own sequence of functions.Robosapien is packed with many features (especially at the price). They include:

Fluid motions and gestures: fast dynamic 2-speed walking and turning; full-function arms with two types of grippers.

67 pre-programmed functions: pick-up, throw, kick, dance, kung-fu, fart, belch, rap and more; 3 demonstration modes.

Fully programmable by remote control: Up to 84 program steps with 4 program modes for advanced operations; programmable “reflexes” to sound and touch stimuli.

Fluent international “caveman” speech.

Extended battery life.

One of the best parts is that there are many hacker sites available for the Robosapien. Check out these two - ROBOSAPIEN.tk and Hack a Robosapien Instructions.

Note - Much of the info in this post is from the Robosapien site linked above.