Forget the Aibos of this world. Sure they're clever but if you're prepared to spend new car money on a toy robotic dog, you're either very rich, or very stupid. Instead, why not part with a modest £59.95 and bag yourself a Robopet. At just over 23cm long, part dog, part Terminator, the Robopet can walk, run, crawl, sit, lie down, or roll over whenever it feels the need and also displays different behaviour dependent on his/her mood. Sonic and motion sensors mean that he responds to your movement and you can chat merrily away to him and watch his reactions. He's even got a guard dog mode to keep your home safe while you out on the town.
Use the supplied laser pointer and you can have your Robopet follow you around the home and do your bidding. ‘Empty the bins,' you'll say to him. Completely in vain, of course. He won't do that. Best of all, if you also own a Robosapien V2, your Robosapien can control the Robopet, like some sort of mildly camp robotic family. It'll be like having C3P0 and R2D2 as flatmates. Sounds alright to us…
Main Features:
Fluid biomechanical motion technology for realistic movement
User-controlled and autonomous movement
Walks, runs, crawls, sits, lies down, sits up, rolls over
Displays different moods
Makes different ‘digital animal' sounds
Sonic and motion sensors
Environmental awareness and interactivity
Infrared vision detects obstacles
Responds to positive and negative reinforcement
Performs tricks on command
‘Laser lead' technology (watch Robopet follow a path traced on the ground)
Visual and sonic guard dog mode
Sleep and auto shut-off functions
Size: Robopet - 23.5 x 14.5 x 11.5cm
Requires 4 x AAA batteries for the robot (not included)
Requires 3 x AAA batteries for the remote control (not included)
My boyfriend lives in a building that doesn't allow pets, so I figured this would be a nice gift for him. I was right, he loves it. Vickey Quigley, London
The Robopet is a real bargain for what it does. I gave one to my 8 year old nephew this Christmas, but he wasn't able to play with it too much as it was robodognapped by all the adults who found it more amusing than their socks and bubblebath gifts. His movements are so realistic it is amazing and he actually has a personality, a cut above a tamogotchi and pretty loveable too. My nephew was lucky he got to keep his to be honest. Clare - St Ives
Each month, the best review that we publish gets £70 to spend at Paramountzone.com, so get
typing and give yourself a chance to go on a shopping spree at our expense.
Robopet
Customers who bought the above product also bought: