Robot Cat 'NeCoRo'

Ssmoimo writes: "Omron's robot pet developing department chief Toshihiro Tashima introduces "NeCoRo" in Tokyo Tuesday. The robotic cat will go on sale in November for about $1,530." Chris DiBona said it was "freaky", and I think that's as good a description as any. You can see this thing sucking the breath out of a small child, can't you?

Re:Vocabulary

[Anonymous Coward]

Apparently you've never experienced a Maine Coon cat. They're not just the biggest cats you can find, but also the most vocal ones. They have a wide range of chirrups and meows, and once they have you trained you know pretty well what they mean by each one ;)

why imitate real life?

[sahala]

so it just sits, meowws every now and then, and responds to touch, and that's supposed to imitate real life for $1500.

I wish Sony would just start making robotic versions of animal cartoon characters, or little creatures that don't exist in real life. Yes I know that sounds like a Furby or some other whizbang toy, but at least people won't be making direct comparisons to the "real thing".

Besides, I know a lot of people that wouldn't mind having a robotic pikachu that actually responded to them, or a garfield, or one of those little forest creatures [geocities.com]from Princess Mononoke.

BIO Bugs?

[glowingspleen]

Speaking of robotic toys, has anyone tried out a BIO Bug yet? I read about them months ago in Wired and was psyched to hear that they were in stores a few weeks ago. They're $40 if you want one.

Has anyone used one yet? Are they neat, or are they a letdown like Furby? Any chances of hacking them?

Links to BIO Bug articles:

wowwee.com/biobugs/biointerface.html

www.wirelessnewsfactor.com/perl/story/14076.html

toycollecting.about.com/library/weekly/bltoyfair 20 01a.htm