Video: Meet Hasbro's Ampbot, the mother of all Rollys

Cross a Segway with a Rolly and Miuro and out pops this A.M.P. soaked in a grey-goo afterbirth of Robotic procreation. The two-wheeled, dancing A.M.P. (Automated Music Personality or Ampbot) from Sega-Hasbro stands 2.4-feet tall and features a MP3 or iPod cradle on its back, stereo speakers, and the ability to follow and interact with its owner. There's a 5-inch mid-range speaker in the chest and a pair of smaller tweeters in the shoulders for a total output of 12 watts. Osamu Takeuchi of Sega Toys says, "The owner can also enjoy being chased around the house by the robot." Uh, yippee? The Ampbot and controller require 6x D and 3x AAA batteries for about 10-hours of continuous music. The stalking begins November for $745 $500 in the US and Japan.

Update: Embedded video courtesy of Impress now available after the break. Be warned: the price tag is starting to look modest even at the cost of our own destruction.

[Via Physorg and Impress]

[MastrCake @ Jun 20th 2008 1:48AM]

""The owner can also enjoy being chased around the house by the robot.""

That's the least of my worries...

http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/04/ugobe-defines-its-own-three-laws-dooms-us-all-to-future-of-robo/

P.S. How did this get Breaking News?

[gad get @ Jun 20th 2008 1:59AM]

I love playing tag with wheeled robots, because they can't go up or down stairs.

[Vagrant @ Jun 20th 2008 2:19AM]

This will be on public display tomorrow and Sunday at the International Tokyo Toy show at Tokyo Big Sight. I'm headed there myself to see various stuff, but the video demo didn't look that impressive. I guess you need to give it some room other than a small stage to enjoy it's range of features.

I'd drop ¥50000 for it, but there are other toys competing for my money. As noted, it is the mother of Rollys and I wasn't impressed with that.

[Mark Kent @ Jun 20th 2008 7:52AM]

Well it can go downstairs; once.

[Brad @ Jun 20th 2008 10:31AM]

Or a few more times if you have multiple staircases. And eventually get stuck in the basement where you can just slam the door on it and watch it roll around, looking for you.

[OneLove @ Jun 20th 2008 11:06AM]

Now I have a someone to go to the club with and hit on the ladies.

[menofsticks @ Jun 20th 2008 6:10PM]

You've obviously never encountered a Dalek:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalek

[ishism @ Jun 20th 2008 8:09PM]

bumble bee, transform and roll out

[Haikibutsu @ Jun 20th 2008 1:49AM]

Is that a subwoolfer on it's chest?

[MastrCake @ Jun 20th 2008 1:51AM]

God, wouldn't that be nice, seeing as this is a music-activated dancing robot and stuff...

All sarcasm aside, don't these things normally have tinny speakers? Or am I right for being sarcastic?

[Giles @ Jun 20th 2008 4:02AM]

Nope, it's just pleased to see you! :)

[S-Fin @ Jun 20th 2008 6:05AM]

Good grief man, are you just here to look at the pretty pictures? The third sodding sentence of the article: "There's a 5-inch mid-range speaker in the chest..."

Crikey.

[Tim @ Jun 20th 2008 1:50AM]

thats pretty cool; from a technological standpoint the sacrifices to use a gyroscopic single axis platform versus a bipedal system really only negates stair climbing/ rough terrain functionality; so until it serves a purpose better than ipod speakers/dancing, why bother; a-ok in my book. please apologize any inaccuracies/ lameness in my comment as i just got back from the bahh (in boston, natch). will correct i the morning if necessary.

[MastrCake @ Jun 20th 2008 1:53AM]

Wait... correct (or edit) your comment?

God, that bahh must have really messed you up good.

[Velorium @ Jun 20th 2008 1:55AM]

At first look I thought it said Armpitrobot on my RSS reader

[Reader @ Jun 20th 2008 2:23AM]

I thought that's what it said until I read your comment, didn't even think much of it.

[pbase @ Jun 20th 2008 2:05AM]

Guys, It's a robot, that follows-you-around-the-house.

How many times as kids have we dreamed of something like this?

And no one considers this awesome? Where's your geek-cred?

[yelohbird @ Jun 20th 2008 2:18AM]

Aibo follows you around the house.
This one looks like it has trouble rolling more than 2 inches in any direction.

[Prokanda @ Jun 20th 2008 4:02AM]

that's just it steadying itself.. just like if you were on a segway... and it probably knows with sensors that it's on a small stage.

plus, maybe they're not finished ironing out the kinks.. or maybe it's programmed to dance around a little like that.

imagine how it'll be when the aftermarket community gets into it, just like with the Plebo (or whatever the dino's called).

[Matthew @ Jun 21st 2008 2:04PM]

amen. can we change this thing up a little and have it carry my backpack to class for me?

[Dustin Leiblein @ Jun 20th 2008 2:17AM]

I'll buy one, but I know for sure that one night I'm going to wake up to go to the bathroom and it will be standing in my bedroom doorway...

...staring at me...

...with those glowing red eyes.......

.....those....evil......glowing red eyes....

[Jack @ Jun 20th 2008 4:12AM]

if it does go for you, run upstairs then laugh 10 hours later as it runs out of battery and falls flat on its face!

[0megapart!cle @ Jun 20th 2008 2:32AM]

I don't know who would call that, "dancing to the music", but I know I don't. Maybe my expectations are too high, but damn, that is not worth $500.

[Iain @ Jun 20th 2008 2:43AM]

So does it carry drinks on its flat motionless hands?

Still for only a hundred more than a rolly this is a good deal.
We need to have a dance off! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTxdKi77G20

[dos @ Jun 20th 2008 3:10AM]

thats is the scariest looking thing...sure its not made by skynet?

[Ayman @ Jun 20th 2008 3:28AM]

DESTROY ALL HUMANS......(is there a song like that we can add to the ampbot)

[Josh @ Jun 20th 2008 3:58AM]

Hey... wasn't this already invented, like 23 years ago?

Yo, check it!

http://www.mutantreviewers.com/r4rocky4.jpg

[COM-4 @ Jun 20th 2008 4:29AM]

It looks cool but not for $500. For $500 I'd rather have them design a similar robot that functions as a mobile webcam controllable with your PC through WiFi. Basically all you would need is a webcam integrated into a wheeled robot->think Roomba+webcam+WiFi communications with your PC. When it runs low on power it goes back to it's charging station to recharge, then it would go back to work moving around your house keeping a watch on your pets, neighbors, etc.

[cgms @ Jun 20th 2008 7:11AM]

What you need is Spykee, be Meccano. For about $400 it does all of that, even docking automatically.
http://www.spykee.org/

[mmh @ Jun 20th 2008 4:42AM]

Sinister face + carnival happy music = WIN

[loosely_coupled @ Jun 20th 2008 4:53AM]

oh dear... only in Japan I tell you... Only in Japan

[SPLUNGE @ Jun 20th 2008 7:01AM]

Are you sure it wasn't made by Norelco? It look like it would give a really nice close shave!

[Cassini @ Jun 20th 2008 7:04AM]

OK, that video was stupid. If they're going to build a robot like that, why don't they just build a robot that actually does something? And what's with the "platter hands" and the evil look?

I want a robot designed like that - but one that I can control, and with hands that can actually pick things up and bring them to me or throw at them at targets :)

Why do these companies keep thinking that people want rolling digital audio players?

[94 taurus owner @ Jun 20th 2008 7:07AM]

Yeah just think,when you put the alarm clock feature on your Ipod the Robot will roll to the side of your bed turn the music all the way up and blast you awake.

[Galley @ Jun 20th 2008 7:49AM]

That truly was the epitome of excitement.

[The_Guy @ Jun 20th 2008 8:42AM]

Ok, so I know the video looks ridiculously lame, but I've seen another demo of it and it's actually pretty cool. I don't know that it's worth 500 beans (to me) but for the work, hardware and overall cool factor I think the price is justified.

[SOOPERGOOMAN @ Jun 20th 2008 9:34AM]

take it apart, splay its guts for all to see then rebuild it into a child sized segway sans speakers.

[Niallers @ Jun 20th 2008 9:49AM]

Yep!, the architect of the destruction of mankind is definitely a Japanese person.

[Digital1 @ Jun 20th 2008 10:10AM]

I,for one,welcome our 2-wheeled segway overlords.

[sonaudio @ Jun 20th 2008 10:23AM]

But can it do the soldier boy?

[Digital1 @ Jun 20th 2008 2:27PM]

It can!

[Modano @ Jun 20th 2008 10:28AM]

QUESTION: DO YOU HAVE STAIRS IN YOUR HOUSE?

[Stephen Melnyk @ Jun 20th 2008 11:18AM]

ANSWER: ELEVATOR!

[blah @ Jun 20th 2008 10:36AM]

this is just another stupid useless thing to come out of hasbro just like the idog. the only way that it moves around is by you controlling it with a remote? you couldn't do something better then that for 5 bills? just a waste of space and a horrible design!

[Chris Dunning @ Jun 20th 2008 12:08PM]

Fairly certain it's not remote controlled.

[johnnguyen @ Jun 20th 2008 10:51AM]

Is it just me or does each iteration of bots seem more and more capable - of, like, enslaving humanity one day...

[Digital1 @ Jun 20th 2008 11:17AM]

YES! We need to get our robot hax0ring skillz up to snuff! So that when their stream processors start thinking faster than us we will have drone CPUs on our side!

[farukates @ Jun 20th 2008 11:07AM]

This totally makes me think of the waiter robot from Star Wars Episode II. No? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

[Bobby @ Jun 20th 2008 11:55AM]

HAZE.

[hackdaapprentice @ Jun 20th 2008 12:14PM]

Jesus, people. It's a kids TOY.
Web cams + sub woofers?
[sarcasm]Don't expect anything groundbreaking.[/sarcasm]