The robot you see in the video above is the Tomy i-Sobot. Yes, it’s a toy. But it’s one of the most sophisticated toys . It’s the type of technology that we all would have loved to of had when we were kids.
This 16 cm tall toy robot has an unprecedented 17 servo motors that allow it to mimic human movement and maintain balance as it performs its balancing tricks like flips, headstands and exercise movements.
I reviewed this robot for TechCast Reviews back in September 2008 and was very impressed with how articulated it is and the massive range of pre-programmed functionality that allows its ‘master’ to get going straight away. It also comes with some limited voice recognition capability so you can shout out some commands to make it perform a set of programmed movements.
The i-Sobot is controlled with the bundled remote through a series of key combinations which are listed in the manual. The key combination requirement to get i-Sobot to move is perhaps the most disappointing aspect of it since most of the time you’ll need the manual nearby to look up the commands.
“For the real eye-candy though, you need to select the special action mode, where you can get a range of programmed sequences that i-Sobot can perform. From balancing on its head whilst waving its feet in the air to performing t’ai chi, i-Sobot will leave a smile on anyone’s face when they see what it can do for the first time. For a party trick and a quick laugh, there’s also the tropical dance routine that will be popular with both the younger and older generation. Perhaps a joke or two when you’re feeling blue may also be ideal, not a problem with i-Sobot.”
- TechCast Reviews, September 2008
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Nice vid! I like how you’ve got him positioned in the ready stance for fighting Master Chief in the pic.
@kanichiwa@5: It’s a pretty good freeze-frame I think for i-Sobot and Master Chief. I think in a real fight, Master Chief would win hands down. He’s the Jack Bauer of the video game world.