Partnership with Evolution will power next-gen WowWee bots with sight, position-awareness
by Evan Blass 
posted Mar 22nd 2006 at 9:21AM
A just-announced partnership with Pasadena-based
Evolution Robotics will allow WowWee to incorporate limited senses
of sight and locational awareness in their next-generation of consumer robotics products. WowWee, makers of such
popular bots as Robosapien and Roboraptor, has licensed both the ViPR (Visual Pattern Recognition)
and Northstar tracking technologies to "meet [customers'] increasingly sophisticated expectations" for
"intelligent robots that can function autonomously..." Northstar is sometimes referred to as "Indoor
GPS," and uses a projector for throwing invisible light spots on a wall that are used by a properly-equipped
mobile device to determine its relative position. Along with the Vex Robotics Kit that we brought
you in our holiday gift guide, and Lego's upcoming Mindstorm NXT set,
the updated Robofriends should finally put fairly sophisticated, powerful, and inexpensive sensor and programming
technology into the hands of the casual hobbyist and hardcore Battlebots fiend alike.
Filed under: Robots
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Derrick @ Mar 22nd 2006 9:51AM
Freakin' Westworld was the bomb. Nice!
Kris Burbidge @ Mar 22nd 2006 10:10AM
I need yahr clothes, yahr boots, and yahr motacycle.
Ismail Afridi @ Mar 22nd 2006 10:10AM
Sight and Position-awareness seem to be pretty cool. They'd be really handy in places which have much tendency to experience Security Breach. Mostly in institutions like Banks, where though the object might be replaced the change of position wouldn't be much monitored by the incapable and inaccurate Human eye.
But beware, we don't want Bots demanding us to park the car for them. We're Humans, not just humans.
GoRobotics.net @ Mar 22nd 2006 10:55AM
No source? I'm holding off on posting this till I get some confirmation.
GoRobotics.net @ Mar 22nd 2006 11:03AM
Ah ha! I found the press release:
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/060322/20060322005343.html?.v=1
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http://www.gorobotics.net
Shaddp @ Mar 22nd 2006 1:22PM
I love the picture. From Short Circuit. Good usage. Great Movie :)
Mase @ Mar 22nd 2006 4:03PM
That pic is from Terminator 2!
Chris McDowell @ Mar 22nd 2006 4:15PM
It isnt from Short Circuit or Westworld it is from Terminator in the bar scene. Geez
pbase @ Mar 23rd 2006 2:00AM
So years from now, the textbooks will note that the one company that provided the essential technology to give robots that spark of sentiency
was named "WowWee."