Wowwee to announce zippy Roboquad "spiderbot"

It wouldn't be a rockin' CES without some new robotoys from Wowwee -- last year saw the introduction of three new bots -- and sure enough, the company is poised to announce one of its most sophisticated models to date this time around. Called the Roboquad -- and formerly known as, ahem, SpiderSapien -- this four-legged critter is said to possess unprecedented mobility and locational awareness: although official specs and deets (and unfortunately, pics) are still under wraps, word on the street says that Roboquad is endowed with three speeds of movement and a sensitive infrared detector that can identify the size of objects and even spacial details such as the edge of a doorway. Because it can also react to sound and detect movement up to 13 feet away, the quadruped will supposedly be able to act as a somewhat ghetto security system as well. If these rumored features do in fact turn out to be legit, it will be further proof -- along with the innovative Dragonfly -- that Wowwee is looking to have its products branch out beyond your standard animatronic dolls. Still, by the time the $119 Roboquad hits stores this fall, Ugobe will already have its pimped-out Pleo on shelves, so Wowwee is gonna need to "wow" us with even more functionality if it wants to stay ahead of the game.

[Via Roboquad, thanks Robert O.]

[Juice @ Jan 6th 2007 8:56PM]

Man we keep hearing about these robots but all I can pretty much get is a Robosapian. I can rig it with blowtorch flamethrowers though... I can then mount him in my remote control 1/6 scale hummer and scare the bejebus out of the neighborhood kids. Maybe I'll hook up my moms old soundseign(sp?) boombox(which takes like 12 D batteries) to the back blastin' some Barry Manilow.

[daniel @ Jan 6th 2007 9:51PM]

quote: "...the quadruped will supposedly be able to act..."

quadruped is four legs, i'm not sure what eight legs would be called? octuped? octopus? hehe

[daniel @ Jan 6th 2007 9:53PM]

ahh damn ignored the "four legged robot" part... just went with the "spider" title. my bad!

[Robert Oschler @ Jan 6th 2007 10:40PM]

Thanks Engadget! I've added some more information about the Roboquad on this page including a link to a video:

http://www.robotsrule.com/html/roboquad.php

I want one of these so bad. The head of the robot is ultra-futuristic looking and I can't wait to see how good the infrared room analysis and motion sensing technology is.