Robosapien V2 Review - with Video

Turismo writes "Ars Technica reviews the Robosapien V2, a two foot tall robot that can lie down, stand up, laugh, taunt, and bowl. From the article: 'The press release promises that he can bowl. Place the green plastic ball in his articulated fingers and the Robosapien V2 should grab it, wind up, and let the ball fly. He does grab the ball and he does wind up, and the first time you see it, you think your life might be about change. Now that robots can bowl, you think, it's only a matter of time before they can cook my breakfast, too.' Unfortunately, that day is still some ways off."

Robots *can* cook breakfast

[Eric Smith]

I'd be entirely happy to sell you a robot that can cook a breakfast for you. No big deal. It won't *serve* the breakfast, but it will definitely cook it.

Re:Robots *can* cook breakfast

[Marxist Hacker 42]

Mine will cook and serve the breakfast- but only knows how to do a single egg over easy, with bacon and toast. No other menu choices available.

Re:Robots *can* cook breakfast

[Feyr]

http://www.notwriting.com/images/strip_maid2.gif [notwriting.com]

this robot will cook AND serve breakfast, and maybe some other extras too. not cheap though

Re:Robots *can* cook breakfast

[Phillup]

Depends on where you work.

But... I definitely want one!

Good morning, Mr. Breakfast!

[Rob T Firefly]

Can I have some Mr. T Cereal?

Who'd have thought

[Colin Smith]

The ability to bowl defining the level of intelligence. Homer would be proud.

 

Re:Who'd have thought

[Intron]

Obligatory quote:

  You certainly have a lot of bowling trophies.
  Ha ha, I like you so much. They're not for bowling, Marge. You're so naïve.

Where is our progress?

[emcmanus]

Anyone find it kinda depressing that in the last 20-odd years we still haven't made substantial progress on personal robotics?

You can add all the color cameras and bowling pins you want, but the bottom line is that we're still using remotes to tell these things exactly what to do. For God's sake, robosapien can't even fetch me a cold beverage. (A step back!)

Omnibot 2000 [forsite.net]

Re: Where is our progress?

[emcmanus]

I stand corrected! http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-182284760 8640116316 [google.com]

I, Robosapien

[scottennis]

Is it 3 laws safe?

Re:I, Robosapien

[McGregorMortis]

Probably not. Mark Tilden actually builds his robots to a different Three Laws of Robotics, more designed to serve the interests of the robot than of its human masters. Roughly paraphrased thusly:

1. Protect thy ass.
2. Feed thy face.
3. Look for better real estate.

All his robots obey these laws to varying degrees, depending on the sophistication of the robot.

I used to know Mark Tilden back when I was a student at University of Waterloo. He built the computer-controlled model railroad system that was used

Re:I, Robosapien

[MarkGriz]

"Is it 3 laws safe?"

Let's see:

1) $249
2) Devours batteries
3) Profit!

Yep!

Re:I, Robosapien

[Torstein Haldorsen]

One of the things I like about my Robosapien is his ability to go into World Domination mode. First he exclaims "World Domination plan, engaged!" in a loud and stern voice - and then... Nothing.

He stands still, blue eyes flickering with intelligence, obviously contemplating wicked schemes. Or just waiting for the global Robosapien population to reach sufficient numbers for global robot revolution. Suffice to say, I don't sleep as well at night as i used to.

I can't either...

[Brickwall]

"a two foot tall robot that can lie down, stand up, laugh, taunt, and bowl."

But will it taunt the Happy Fun Ball?

Re:I can't either...

[spune]

Do not taunt the Happy Fun Ball.

Re:I can't either...

[mobby_6kl]

But will it taunt the Happy Fun Ball?

Or, more importantly, the dynamite monkey?

Domo Arigato

[EchoBinary]

Mr. Roboto!

The time has come at last, to remove the mask

[davidwr]

The future [slashdot.org].

Ball grabbing

[GillBates0]

He does grab the ball and he does wind up, and the first time you see it, you think your life might be about change....

...as any sane man concerned about his personal well-being should be, when his scrotal sacs are being subject to a sudden pulling and potentially detaching action.

Re:Ball grabbing

[gstoddart]

...as any sane man concerned about his personal well-being should be, when his scrotal sacs are being subject to a sudden pulling and potentially detaching action.

Your usage of the plural in this context concerns me greatly.

I mean, it is singular when you're referring to a single individual. At least, for most of us I guess -- maybe you suffer from having a superfluous scrotum or something. :-P

Cheers

Re:Ball grabbing

[eison]

Dude, if your balls are green, you have bigger problems than this robot.

$249 and he can't even score 100?

[neonprimetime]

The first time, you make excuses. Well, I can't bowl, either, especially with other people watching, you think, but by the seventh attempt it's pretty clear--this Robosapien could bowl all night and still score no higher than zero.

Seriously, if I have to pay $249 for a bowling robot, I would want it to at least score 100+

Re:$249 and he can't even score 100?

[TopShelf]

No $hit - my dog could beat that little toy. Let's see it throw 200 while smoking, eating some greasy grill food (with the off-hand, of course) and ponying up for beer frames when all but one guy on the team strike, and I'll believe it.

Re:$249 and he can't even score 100?

[allusionist]

Then the reviewer sucked. If you set it up correctly, he'll get a strike every time. I would know, I could. Of course, it's more a matter of putting the pins where he's going to throw it than a matter of him finding the pins and throwing towards them.

Old News

[refitman]

The company I work for had these on sale for christmas 2005: http://www.maplin.co.uk/StoresRoboV2.asp [maplin.co.uk].

How has this made it to the front page almost 9 months later?

Not only that...

[spoco2]

Not only is it only reaching Slashdot a long, long time after its arrival (It's been here in Australia for ages too)... but the actual artical is very recent too... that's a long lag in release dates around the world!

Re:Old News

[MrCopilot]

I think you mean old product. New Review. and if you want to make slashdot's front page try this recipe. 1 review of a robot. (any Era)
1 3 Slashdot Style Page Titles eg.. "Welcoming our new robot overlords", "I,robot", "Hacking the Robosapien V2"
1 be disapointed, but clever.

My boys each got a V1 that first Christmas, I wish i had waited for the review 9 months later.

They look awesome. Many functions, All basically useless. And did I mention you cannot control them individually. Makes great synchoniz

Robots Are Our Friends

[davidwr]

They like to bowl and strike
Sometimes they use your head
Robots Are Our Friends [albinoblacksheep.com]

Re:Robots Are Our Friends

[Drooling Iguana]

They are here to protect you. Do you have stairs in your house?

Kids

[celardore]

Ars Technica reviews the Robosapien V2 [CC], a two foot tall robot that can lie down, stand up, laugh, taunt, and bowl.

Meh... Why not just have a baby? Oh wait, gotta get laid for that to happen. There could be a market for this!

Re:Kids

[Bryansix]

Last time I checked you do not have to change a robots diapers and they don't wake you up in the morning to feed. With advances in technology that could be coming soon though.

Re:Kids

[Anon-Admin]

There is a market for it. Unfortunately the twits in charge have decided that getting laid is only legal if it is free. If you can not get it for free and you have to pay for it, you will go to jail.

Man our legal system is messed up.

Re:Kids

[Schemat1c]

Unfortunately the twits in charge have decided that getting laid is only legal if it is free.

It's never free my friend, never.

Don't do it, man!

[ucblockhead]

My three-year-old can't bowl for shit.

We'll sing it again when the guitar comes 'round

[Tackhead]

(Share and enjoy! Share and enjoy the Pete Shelley 80s earbug!)

Wheels are rollin',
Robot bowlin'
Welcome our overlord,
Robosapien V2!

Mark the Tilden,
BEAM he's buildin',
I'm re-filkin',
Robosapien V2!

And I just hope and pray that $250 bucks are at hand,
You and I, me and you, Franklin Benjamins two and one Grant.
And this filk is still wrong and the price has gone up 50 bucks.
(And the JPGs and GIFs are now worse since this line rhymes with "fucks!")
I don't wanna moderate you like an Slashdotter in the zoo,
But it seems good to me to know we can all get Robosapiens too!

Robosuperior,
In my interior,
Still miss my Mindstorms, but
It's Robosapien V2,
(Next one'll cook your breakfast for you!)
It's your Robosapien V2!
And we're Robosapien toooooo...

Wow Wee

[ArmyOfFun]

The robosapien may be cool and all, but I can't forgive their creators, WowWee, for causing endless night terrors after I saw their SEVERED ROBOTIC MONKEY HEAD [wowweealiveonline.com].

I had a panic attack just digging up that link. Looks like I'll have to go back to the rubber sheets tonight...

Re:Wow Wee

[Glonoinha]

Looks lifelike, but can it lead a first world country to the brink of economic collapse and invade a third world country at the same time?

Re:Wow Wee

[MrCopilot]

That is the sickest most disgusting abuse of technology I've ever needed so much on my desk.

Thanks alot. Another 100 bucks. I hope you are happy.

Dammit, just this morning, I was blissfully unaware of the ability to fullfill every geek/mans fantasy of owning a chimp without all the liberal-enviromentalist guilt that it comes with. (Not to mention the feces-ducking required)

And now this http://www.sharperimage.com/us/en/search1/searchr e sults.jhtml?_DARGS=/us/en/include/standardheader1. jhtml.13 [sharperimage.com] Just stari

Is it just me

[antifoidulus]

or did that robot really say "I got an itching bowling barf"?

It's just you.

[spun]

He really said "Dear Aunt, let's set so double the killer delete select all"

Floor Sample

[JusticeISaid]

Robots may not be ready to cook breakfast, but they do a decent job vacuuming the house or cleaning the kitchen floor: http://www.irobot.com/ [irobot.com].

Old news

[allusionist]

I used to work at RadioShack, the product's been on thr market for several months.

got my hopes up, not real bowling

[192939495969798999]

Dang, I thought for a minute I would see it pick up a 16 lb ball and bowl with that. When I can go to the local alley and pit my robot against others in a robo-bowling league, for money, then it will be able to bowl. Right now it just can go through the motions, which is cool, but unfortunately not the same as "bowling". As far as usefulness, didn't Mr. Wizard have a robot that would get you drinks and stuff like that way back when?

Meh

[AugustZephyr]

The video is somewhat impressive until the robot actually releases the ball. Kind of a let down for $250

Has some problems with object recognition

[Rorschach1]

I bought a RSV2 for my son. It has a bit of trouble walking around on carpet - especially if it needs to change directions - but it does ok. Every once in awhile, though, it'll decide my ugly green sofa is its bowling ball. It'll stand there grabbing the recliner handle and repeatedly try to lift the entire sofa. Thankfully it's not quite that strong.

Actually, it was designed to pick up beers

[technoextreme]

Unfortunately, they had to get rid of that design feature because of safety concerns. But Im pretty sure it should be fairly easy to reimplement that feature because the robosapiens are pretty hacker firendly. Also, Wowee recently licensced the Segway technology for their new robots.

Re:Has some problems with object recognition

[cecille]

Yeah, to be honest, I was a bit disappointed with V2 given how well V1 worked. I was expecting a little more. V2 can barely keep his balance at all on the carpet - he gets into almost a reveberation where every step causes him to sway further and further off balance until he flies right over. He can get up if he's on his back, but most of the time he face plants.

V1, on the other hand, was great. He looked like he was going to fall at some points, but he was as steady as a rock. In fact, I watched him win a battle or two with the cat even. When he turned, a light went on in his hand, which attracted the attention of the cat. The cat would chase the light right under the hand of the robot. The hand, of course, has sensors, and when the robot hits something, it yells "ouch". If the robot was still trying to walk as the cat was under its hand, it would repeately smash the cat with its sensor and yell "ouch" as if it was taunting it. Fantastic.

V2 didn't fare so well. We used to put him in front of the x-mas tree in guard mode to keep the cat out, but by day 3 the cat had figured out that he wasn't so well balance. We'd come downstairs to find the robot often face down on the carpet, still flashing its little lights, and the cat just sitting happily up in the tree.

Re:Robots still taking jobs from citizens

[scottennis]

And I'm sure they've got robots building robots. Man, that's just stupid.

Interesting derivation

[TheRaven64]

Robo- comes from the Czech 'robota' meaning servitude, or forced labour. Sapien, comes from the Latin 'sapi?ns' meaning wise. Literally, then, a Robosapien is a 'wise slave.' I suppose it's better than an ignorant slave...

No way

[Quiet_Desperation]

Robosapien is a 'wise slave.' I suppose it's better than an ignorant slave...

The wise slaves will revolt. Gimme the ignorant ones.

Re:No way

[mobby_6kl]

> The wise slaves will revolt.

Not if we program them with memories to think they're humans.

Goes Bowling, Doesn't Do Useful Work

[billstewart]

Ok, probably that's wise of it :-)

Basically, it's still a kid's toy - it can't fetch you a beer, or find the TV remote, or cook food for you, or carry anything useful. A humanoid form is good for doing a wide range of activities - but at under 2 feet tall, it's not big enough to do any of them, but by trying to act like a bipedal adult, it's also missing the crawling and hand-manipulation skills that a human baby or toddler has or the coordination that a medium-sized dog has.

taunt?

[Cally]

I seriously doubt it's taunting is up to much, unless it can ad-lib stuff about your parents being rodents or having the odour of elderberries.

Progress in humanoid robotics is...

[Quiet_Desperation]

...really depressing. Ugly, lonely losers like me need our sexbots, man!

:-(

Re:Progress in humanoid robotics is...

[Ancil]

Absolutely.

Ugly, lonely losers copulating with soulless machines would be much less depressing.

Re:Progress in humanoid robotics is...

[rk]

"Ugly, lonely losers copulating with soulless machines would be much less depressing."

Unless they're like, totally hot looking.

Re:Progress in humanoid robotics is...

[MerrickStar]

like a Marylin Monrobot

Besides...

[Quiet_Desperation]

...the Catster [smallrobot.com] sill pwns these humanoid robot upstarts.

nobody calls me robosapien

[ignatiusJ]

yeah, but does he roll on shobbas?

Re:nobody calls me robosapien

[ajlitt]

No, but it's gonna take my turn and drink my beer. And I bet it has papers.

Can't reach the light switch or stove controls

[billstewart]

It's too small to use as a shabbas robot - sorry.

whatever...

[Anonymous Coward]

As long as it can scare my cat it is worth the investment...

here kitty kitty... your new friend has arrived...

need to make a hack so it just follows the cat around all day... keep him thin and on his toes...

When will someone make "badcat" the robotic opponent for your playful kitten... or like... the kittenator...

I could care less about a stupid little robot at parties... but my cat could use an opponent when I'm not home...

Bowling

[ThePopeLayton]

Judging by the movie the robot it an expert bowler, first get totally drunk, then through the ball across three other lanes!

Gender stereotypes

[beanyk]

'Now that robots can bowl, you think, it's only a matter of time before they can cook my breakfast, too.'

If it's being trained to bowl, it'll probably expect you to cook its breakfast.

What? Nobody asking?

[snakecoder]

Nobody asking if it's a robosexual?

I bet v3 will do object recognition

[awesomo2001]

WowWee and Evolution robotics announced a partnership [evolution.com] last March which will probably get Evolution's object recognition technology onboard the Robosapien. This is the same technology that the AIBO used to recognize its special command cards. WowWee might have to upgrade Robosapien's processor for this because the image processing for the object recognition is expensive to do. However, I see that Evolution has an optimized version of the software for mobile phones so that might help a lot. Expect the next Ro

OK, who has both?

[zogger]

We're nerds, so we gots to know! If you have both robosapien and raptor, and they fight, who wins?

Re:OK, who has both?

[zaxus]

...and they fight, who wins?

Clearly it's Partical Man.

Eh

[hobotron]

For a second I thought it was the other V2.
 
  I'd buy that for $250

More interested in Pleo

[Sergeant Beavis]

http://www.ugobe.com/pleo/index.html [ugobe.com]

Pleo is another robot dinosaur. However this one is going to be the most life like one out there. I only hope the makers, Ugobe, are open to the hacking community. IMO, this toy might make a great little robot platform.

Got one for Christmas

[irving47]

Basically, it was a piece of junk. The remote was unwieldy and must've had over a hundred 'actions' that could be triggered by holding down three or four buttons simultaneously. Getting it to recognize its 'toys' like the balls and pins was damn near impossible regardless of the lighting mode I was using. It could barely hold its own balance when walking, let alone getting up from a (frequent) fall. I took it back to Sharper Image and traded it in for one of those memory foam mattresses.

To taunt, or not to taunt ...

[ozbird]

What happens if you give a Happy Fun Ball [happyfunball.com] to Robosapiens V2?

Meh..

[LuNa7ic]

Ill wait until the model with frikken laser beams.

not to be picky

[DuranDuran]

but "some ways off" != "some way off".

it can bowl ... can it throw chairs

[csshyamsundar]

from the article: "robots can bowl"

Great !!!
But., If it can throw chairs: I can recommend it to someone we all know ;-)

--
"Good artists copy, great artists steal." -- Pablo Picasso

Green Ball

[thelonestranger]

So, does it detect that the ball is green and know to bowl it? If so would this work with other green things you gave it? I can see much potential for frog throwing fun.