Wowwee reveals next-gen Robosapien, two others

Wowwee has given PC Mag a sneak preview of three upcoming robots that will available sometime this year. Following the runaway success of the original Robosapien, the V2, Robopet, and Roboraptor comes the Robosapien RS2 Media which adds a host of new features as well as more powerful programming capabilities. The RS2 Media takes its design cues from the V2 but tacks on an LCD screen for viewing images from Robo's headcam, SD slot for capturing that data and storing scripts, and a USB 1.0 port for connecting to an MP3 player ala iZ by Zizzle. Next, Wowwee is giving Roboraptor a friend to play with (or battle) in the form of the super-agile Roboreptile, whose agressive personality warrants shipping the bot with a head cowl to calm it down (you mean they really didn't have to blow up Isla Nublar?). Finally, we'll soon see Wowwee's first collaboration with Segway, the two-wheeled, self-balancing P(ersonality)-Bot. With an LCD face and artificial feelings, P-bot promises to be the most emotive Robo-whatever to date. We'll have pics, prices, and release dates for you as soon as we break into Wowwee's suite at The Bellagio. Keep reading to see the other new members of the Roboposse...

[Props to Sascha at PC Mag for the pic hook-ups]

[Ian Suri @ Jan 5th 2006 9:33PM]

Wow, first comment.



Anyways, concidering the immense opoularity of the last robosapien, these should be equal as popular, and with the new features and functions, its sounds like the next must have for your kids.



Still think they bshould release before holiday season, because they lost a lot of steam between the last release and holiday season last year.

[Murc @ Jan 5th 2006 11:42PM]

cool, sounds like I might have a robot slave in about 10 years! thats great news. ;)



BTW, Wowee...it looks like Nasa beat you to it.



http://www.segwaychat.com/images/robonaut-segway.jpg

[Bistromaths @ Jan 6th 2006 5:55AM]

Well, it's not much of a "sneak preview" really. I mean, they have already been shown on The Gadget Show (Five) at least 3 or 4 weeks ago. But they did look good, and they interacted with each other well. Though I like the inventor's aim to increase the size of Robosapien each version...I think he said he was hoping to get a human-sized version by version 4. That will be cool.

[tempusmaster @ Jan 7th 2006 12:05AM]

It's really kind of odd, almost as if WowWee robotics and Mark Tilden have lost their way. The new Robosapien looks like a cross between the V2 and a boom box. The 2 wheeled bot looks like a bad mating of the Robosapien V1 and a Segway, and the new Roboreptile appears to be hacked together from Roboraptor and Robopet parts. I'm hoping that Tilden has more in mind that just this odd robotic mash-up.

[Google Nazi @ Jan 7th 2006 3:55AM]

The entire robosapien line is a joke. Though you don't see QRIO, HUBO, or ASIMO available to public under a grand so I suppose you get what you pay for.



Though for $100 I would definately pick up a robotic kit and make my own and learn how to mod it and stuff. Would seem better right?



Erm.. One last thing.





HALT! PRESENT HALL PASS!



- Its right here!!



HALT! SECOND REQUEST! PRESENT HALL PASS!!

[Robert Oschler @ Jan 7th 2006 5:14AM]

If anyone has any inside tips, pictures, or video of these new robots, please come and share them on our Robosapien forum. Here are the direct links for each of the new robots:



http://www.roboburp.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=14 - Robosapien RS Media forum

http://www.roboburp.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=15 - Roboreptile forum

http://www.roboburp.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=16 - P-Bot forum



We are most interested in technical details, especially when it comes to the progammability of the new units; although pricing and delivery updates are always welcome.



What is strange is that all the press I've read says that WowWee is moving away from remote controls. However, for some of the new robots, you can still get a remote control as an accessory. Why would the remote control be available as a luxury item if the manufacturer itself (WowWee), is trying to phase out the item completely?

[Chance "knitsu" Brown @ Jan 7th 2006 5:01PM]

This is what I got from Tilden driectly, followed after I emailed him asking about these robots....





Cat's out of the bag now so I can talk. RSmedia is our big item for this year. It's going to be a stand alone walking, talking, LINIX engine with complete microcode reconfigurable personality, VGA picture and movie and MP3. Swappable SD card HD up to 2 gig (comes with only an 8m card though). Shipping Sept 1.





You can let that out to the fans if you like.

[sprocket2cog @ Jan 18th 2006 12:48AM]

Head over here to have aheated debate with a V2 robosapien chatbot. the sapienCHAT.
http://www.evosapien.com/robosapien-hack/sprocket2cog/sapienchat/sapienchat001.html
ideal time waster and laugh inducer.

[Jason Anderson @ Jan 30th 2006 8:43PM]

I need one of those to go with my V1.

[ev @ Feb 4th 2006 8:06PM]

i wold buy rsv3 ,this looks good wheels look better than legs and faster Mitsubishi's wakamaru is nice better you compare it Honda's asimo crap