eBay Auctions for the Robopet are expiring now!

eBay Auctions for the i-Cybie are expiring now!

Saturday, December 31, 2005

 

Robopet - Guardian Of The Egg Sandwich!

-- from mavra_chang - (?)
True and hilarious Robopet story. I found out about this wonderful picture from Lem Fugitt's Robot Dreams blog (if you're not reading it regularly you really should). Apparently at her Christmas party Megan had an egg sandwich that the family dog wanted to chow down on really badly. Megan put the Robopet in guard mode near the sandwich. Every time the dog approached Robopet barked and scared the dog away!

A truly creative use of ! Go and see the rest of Mavra's Robopet photo's on flickr!

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

 

Robopet Walking Video

Lem Fugitt has done it again with a really great video of the Robopet's walking gaits. If you have been wondering how well the gets around then this is the video for you. Being the technical guy that he is, he actually explains how the Robopet manages to walk. He points out that the Robopet takes advantage it's rocking motion to move; a trait common to all of Mark Tilden's current robots. He also gives an interesting breakdown of how the Robopet manages to turn using different movements for its front and back legs; with all of this being done without any knees! Take a look at his blog page and then watch the video, "My Puppy Has No Knees!".

Monday, December 26, 2005

 

Robopet's Rebelliousness

Some people have been commenting on 's lack of responsiveness to commands sometime. Robopet appears to ignore commands sometimes, or there is a long delay before he responds. This happens for one of two reasons.

First case, a long delay before responding. Robopet likes to finish a trick he starts before responding to a new command. Even if it is the stop command. Like a stubborn child, he does hear the command when you give it, he just wants to finish what he is doing before responding to it. Since some of Robopet's tricks take a long time to complete, the delay is quite noticeable.

Second case, he just plain ignores a command. This is a strange rebellious behavior that everyone has seen in their digital doggy. It can be a little frustrating, but in a way it makes him feel like a real dog. It's just part of is personality. It can be endearing in a robotic toy, but let's hope our automobiles never get like that!

Saturday, December 24, 2005

 

Robopet Merry XMas

Just wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and hope all of you get a brand new under the tree this year!

Thursday, December 22, 2005

 

Robopet - Edge Detectors

One of 's features is his edge detection sensor. This allows him to see the edges of tables or ledges and back away. However, there are some important things you need to know about his edge detection sensor:
Note! I'll be the first to tell you that you should never rely on the edge detectors to prevent your Robopet from hurting himself. I'm saying this from first hand experience. My original red Sharper Image Signature Series Robopet is currently awaiting a new motor. One time when he was on the edge of the table, he maniacally spun himself off the edge of the table with glee when he spontaneously decided to do the Roll Over trick. Then later he was backing up and I was too slow in stopping him from falling off the table. That particular fall busted his back leg motor. That's why you see my new chrome Robopet in my latest videos. I have a video of Robopet Red's final fall which I'll be releasing at some point.

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

 

Mini Robopet

The Mini Robopet is a smaller less functional version of the full sized . It's about 4 inches long and in the usual style of all the other Wow Wee Mini robots, it's just a small animated walking toy. You can pose the body manually a little, but aside from walking, that's about it.

However it is cute and it makes an inexpensive gift for someone, especially youngsters. A clever gift idea is to give a youngster the Mini Robopet for a holiday or birthday gift a few days before the gift-giving event. Then give them the full-sized Robopet on the day of the event. It drives them wild with anticipation and you can play with the full sized Robopet up until then.

Saturday, December 17, 2005

 

Wow Wee Robopet

When the original robot came on the scene, soon afterward a knock-off of the robot appeared known as the Roboactor. I have been told by owners of the clone that it is not the same quality as the WowWee Robosapien. However, it was so close in appearance and functionality, I was constantly getting email questions and seeing forum questions from confused would-be buyers of the Robosapien.

This has some people a little nervous out there as to the authenticity of some of the toys they have seen that belong to the Mark Tilden line of toy robots. So I'm writing this post to clarify a few things. The Sharper Image red and chrome signature series robopets and the Radio Shack Bulldog Robopet are authentic Robopets that were customized for these two large vendors by WowWee. In addition, if you see the Robopet listed as "Wow Wee Robopet" or "WowWee Robopet", they are valid listings because WowWee is the manufacturer of the Robopet.

Happy shopping!

Friday, December 16, 2005

 

The Radio Shack Bulldog Robopet

I ran into an oddity the other day when shopping at Radio Shack. Radio Shack apparently has a customized version of the called the Bulldog Robopet. It's white and like the other customized versions, has the same functionality as all the other robopets. However, the difference lies in the styling of the head. The head has a different structure than the other robopets and it has painted on blue eyes (not blue LEDs). It's interesting that WowWee does this for the various vendors and it's rather cool that they do.

If anyone knows of any strange or interesting differences with the Bulldog Robopet, please post a comment.

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

 

What Color Is That Robopet In The Window?

Several people have been asking what colors the comes in and styles. Currently, there are 3 distinct styles of Robopet. There are the Sharper Image Robopets which come in two colors, but the same style. They have a dark red colored version, and a reflective chrome version. The head in both cases is a futuristic teardrop shape with two little holes for eyes. Some people, when seeing this version, have wished for a real set of eyes like the has, while others find the streamlined head shape "cool" looking. The other version is the white Robopet which is available at most stores. It has two blue eyes, but they are simply painted on and are not LED's or some other active light fixture.

If you are wondering what happened to the cool looking Robopet that was shown at the Consumer Electronics show, it was just a prototype. It had two ears that looked like solar panels and a slightly different body.

Friday, December 09, 2005

 

Robopet Roll-Over Quirks

Some owners of robot dogs have reported a strange quirk when their Robopet does theRoll Over trick. Normally the robot flips over on it's back, waggles a bit, and then completes a full roll by flipping upright in the same direction that it flipped on its back. My chrome Sharper Image Robopet does exactly that. But some people have reported that their doggy flips upright in the opposite direction. So instead of doing a full roll, it does a half roll and then unrolls itself back to the same position it was in before it began the trick.

I am not sure what causes this. The Robopet uses tilt sensors to detect when it has fallen, and then uses internal algorithms to decide how to right itself. This is purely a guess, but it is possible that the Robopet's electronics, due to variances in the tilt sensors between models and variances in the power and sway in the waist motor, thinks that the best way to get back up is to go back the way it came, instead of completing its roll.

If anyone has their own story to tell about their Robopet doing the Roll Over trick, or if someone knows the real answer to this puzzle, please leave a comment.

Monday, December 05, 2005

 

i-Cybie Arrived Today, Robopet Is Jealous

In preparation for the previously promised vs. comparison, I got my i-Cybie today via UPS. Here's a happy anecdotal story that was part of my Amazon i-Cybie purchase.

The price dropped $50 between the time I ordered the i-Cybie and the time it got to my door. But Amazon was kind enough to refund me the $50 difference! I ended up paying $129 for it instead of the original $179. No wonder they're kicking so much butt in the online retail space.

I'm charging the i-Cybie's batteries right now so it will be another 6 to 8 hours before I can play with it. One first note, it's big! It's about 4 times the size and 4 times the weight of the Robopet! No wonder the battery life is so much shorter than the Robopet's. Stay tuned, the robot dog comparison review is coming soon!

Friday, December 02, 2005

 

Robopet Vs. I-Cybie : Coming Soon

I have had several people ask me how the i-Cybie robotic dog compares to the Robopet. I did some research and got some basic comparison information. For example, the responds to voice commands after you have trained it on your voice, the responds to anyone's voice commands but only with the help of Robosapien Dance Machine. The i-Cybie can recharge itself when it gets low on juice, the Robosapien runs a lot longer on his batteries than the i-Cybie can. The Robopet can run for many many hours on his batteries vs. about 1 1/2 hours for the i-Cybie under heavy usage. The Robopet costs about $100 the i-Cybie around $180.

But that was not enough for me so I have ordered an i-Cybie robot. When it shows up, I'll follow up with a full comparison of the two popular robotic dogs and possibly a video showing them in action, side-by-side. What is of greatest interest to me is how much you can alter the personality of the i-Cybie vs. the Robopet. If you have a Robopet you know you can use the Punish and Reward buttons on the remote control to alter the frequency that it does particular tricks. I don't know how this works with the i-Cybie or if you even can punish and reward him. I'll know soon and so will you.

If you have any questions about either robot dog that you would like answered in the comparison review, leave a comment and put the question in your comment.

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