Video: RoboStool follows you around, never leaves you sans a seat
We can't fully express the awesomeness of RoboStool with mere words, but we'll try. A product of Norris Labs, this robotic foot stool can be navigated in a trio of ways: by using a remote control, by actually tapping into a satnav or by utilizing a thermal sensing system to make it follow its master around. We don't suppose you need more than one guess to pick which of the three is our favorite, and there's a nice demonstration video of said choice waiting after the jump. IKEA, you on this or what?



















Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Freakin Ijit @ Aug 2nd 2008 2:58PM
At the start of that video I expected to hear:
>>> "Zalright?"
>>> "Zalright!"
Or at least see a skeletal hand.
fontendet24 @ Aug 2nd 2008 11:11PM
I think that they can make toilet model too...that always goes with you.
Josh @ Aug 4th 2008 12:04PM
Can you imagine this robot combined with the one mentioned in this article: http://www.internetevolution.com/author.asp?section_id=526&doc_id=155718&f_src=flffour ?
A stool with personality: "It's been 2 months since my last oil change, let me just go ahead and push this mofo down the stairs"
Daniel @ Aug 2nd 2008 2:59PM
Lmao i can see myself with this at the mall
adam @ Aug 2nd 2008 4:04PM
with this following my dog, coco would flip a shit!
B3astofthe3ast @ Aug 2nd 2008 2:59PM
It's a little loud and slow when it going back and forth from "seat mode" to "travel mode"
phanbouy @ Aug 2nd 2008 3:08PM
that's what she does
Wwhat @ Aug 3rd 2008 7:39PM
That's also the camera, it has a tendency to accentuate certain sounds.
lowdef @ Aug 2nd 2008 3:02PM
robostool- sounds like an absurdly powerful and efficient laxative...
phanbouy @ Aug 2nd 2008 3:09PM
you win an internet
XIYL @ Aug 4th 2008 4:41AM
I hope nobody ever makes me brownies with that stuff.
Graham @ Aug 2nd 2008 3:02PM
I would modify this into my own personal R2D2 unit.
Tina Darby @ Aug 2nd 2008 3:20PM
I'm going to buy a ton of these, attach cardboard cut-outs of papparazzi to them and have them follow me around everywhere, so I look famous and all bad ass
Ian @ Aug 2nd 2008 11:08PM
you my good sir win at life
Reed Grafke @ Aug 3rd 2008 8:12AM
I'm sure this could be used in some beneficial way...it just alludes me right now.
phanbouy @ Aug 2nd 2008 3:24PM
what are you alluding to? this eludes me...
Jenny @ Aug 2nd 2008 7:11PM
Perhaps if it were a wheelchair that would park itself in a corner for the mildly disabled who like to get out and sit in other chairs? Or a toolbox filled with tools to follow you as you work?
AC @ Aug 2nd 2008 3:23PM
sweet, now I can be lazy all the time.
I don't even have to walk to a seat anymore.
Jon Nelson @ Aug 2nd 2008 3:23PM
I, for one, welcome our robotic stool overlords.
Boy, I can't WAIT to trip over something like this over and over in the future.
Dan @ Aug 3rd 2008 2:34PM
Dick Van Dyke is no longer safe.
MJZimmer88 @ Aug 2nd 2008 3:25PM
Can they make some luggage that will follow me around now? Like in Terry Pratchett's "Sourcery"...
If it eats a few people in the process, I'm cool with that too...
zapht @ Aug 2nd 2008 3:46PM
if it had subordinate voice statements like "please use me for your comfort master" it would be an essential part of the home.
Josh @ Aug 2nd 2008 3:56PM
I can see a headline already: "RoboStool Kills Woman, Pushed Down Stairs".
Yevon @ Aug 2nd 2008 7:40PM
The robot uprising begins...
gt2378b @ Aug 3rd 2008 12:09PM
Pak Chooie Unf
cwm @ Aug 4th 2008 4:12PM
sterilize imperfections...sterilize imperfections...STERILIZE!
BigD145 @ Aug 2nd 2008 3:59PM
I sure could use that in my 500 square foot apartment. Chairs are always so far away.
Christopher @ Aug 2nd 2008 4:10PM
Now if you made this a toilet that followed you around, you've made serious cash, bet nursing homes would love this.
Darkroom @ Aug 2nd 2008 4:21PM
Engadget said "Stool"... hehehe *points*
Paul @ Aug 2nd 2008 4:47PM
Seems similar to the project designed to follow you around a library.
http://www.robotliving.com/2008/06/16/robotic-chair/
melrosedjt @ Aug 2nd 2008 4:46PM
"DI-REC-TIVE!"
Cedric @ Aug 3rd 2008 4:27AM
EX-TER-MIN-ATE!!!
haX0r @ Aug 2nd 2008 4:59PM
They should make one with a toilet.
You could still call it RoboStool (feces), CrapNGo or R2go#2.
Harlan @ Aug 3rd 2008 1:59AM
C3PeeGo
required @ Aug 2nd 2008 5:26PM
I am pretty sure what is shown in the video is considered an ottoman, which by the way would make for a better name: Robottoman.
wildstar @ Aug 3rd 2008 6:49AM
arigatoman mister Robottoman
Jeff Moralde @ Aug 3rd 2008 12:48PM
Forget the foot rest... I'd redesign the top part to hold ice and bottles of beers and then have it follow me around!
chubbyrain @ Aug 2nd 2008 6:02PM
I have a much cheaper invention I call "Rub-a-Stool."
SOOPERGOOMAN @ Aug 2nd 2008 6:53PM
I have a free one, it's called "The Floor"!
Max @ Aug 2nd 2008 5:54PM
Wait...it utilizes a thermal sensing system to follow its master around?
I anticipate hours of hilarity when this thing's thermal sensing system locks onto freaked out housecats.
Shane @ Aug 2nd 2008 8:26PM
Unless your housecat is used to seeing random crazy robots...
http://www.norrislabs.com/Projects/Mona/index.html
Shunnabunich @ Aug 2nd 2008 6:03PM
There seems to be an awful lot of waiting involved with the current incarnation; I'd like to see that with faster and quieter motors so it can keep up with a person's normal walking pace, and not take so painfully long to raise up into travel mode.
Jack @ Aug 2nd 2008 6:25PM
That guys pants are a little short...
Jack @ Aug 2nd 2008 6:25PM
Nevermind, i only saw his pants after he sat down
SOOPERGOOMAN @ Aug 2nd 2008 6:55PM
Pretty sure he had pants on while walking......Not sure what You saw. I want one of these, walking with a cane everywhere makes me very tired. I need one of these, oh sbap no I don't. I need a segway, not one of those copycraps either.
Mike @ Aug 2nd 2008 8:11PM
One word: stairs.
George A. Romero @ Aug 2nd 2008 8:39PM
They don't make them stairs anymore. Nowadays, the younger folks use these fancy gravity defying devices called elevators cause they're too heavy to go up stairs.
m00n3r @ Aug 2nd 2008 7:53PM
wait a second... dilbert already invented this!
Anthony @ Aug 2nd 2008 7:59PM
I think the people that would really buy/want these probably aren't walking around that much to begin w/.
Armoured @ Aug 2nd 2008 9:28PM
That's pretty cool...but what if there's more than one heat source?