It’s no secret that I am completely bonkers about robots. And gadgets, and while we’re at it, dinosaurs too. But robots really float my boat figuratively speaking.

Mid 80's toy robot Tobor

I remember being around 8 or 9 years old and throwing a massive turn about getting the toy that I wanted from Target, TOBOR, which of course was a sound and motion activated robot. I thought he was the coolest thing in the world but at around $100 some 30 years ago he probably wasn’t very affordable.

Nonetheless endless whinging and bizarre commitment goes a long way and I got one for Christmas that year. I think that was the start of a very long infatuation with robots. One that I am not sure is entirely healthy as I seem to act rather impulsively and irrationally when I discover a robot is available to the general public, aka me, and I dont have it. Surely this isnt healthy for a mid thirties man with a responsible job, mortgage, partner et al?

Regardless of its pyschological validity the infatuation continues. Here are just a few of my most prized and ridiculous collection leading up to the latest discovery of a semi-affordable robot that I dont yet own.

The first release Robosapien

The Robosapien was instantly attractive and fasicnating to me. At less that $200 a few years ago I immediately validated that it was reasonable that i get one – purely from a collectors standpoint. I would leave it in its box and keep it until it was really valuable just like all those tin toys from the early 1900s. Yeah right. It was out of the box singing dancing and farting within 15 mins of it being home.

He was fun for a little while but ridiculous controls made him feel really erratic and the demographic that he was aimed at – young children! – made him a hit and miss with me. I never found fart humour really that funny. He still has a place on my robo-shelf in a suitably ridiculous robo-pose.

Roboraptor from Wowee

Then came the Roboraptor. Another Wowee robot aimed at robot fascinated young boys with ridiculously difficult controls but a very cool roam feature that let him mosey on about the house at his own pace discovering stuff. But again I tired easily of him with its limited function and kinda silly toy aspects. I was really looking for a serious robot that would do what I programmed it to do or at least was a little less child focused.

Still a very affordable addition to the collection because of it’s toy status and unless you have a cool grand up your sleeve you arent realistically going to find much on the market – that is until recently…

I started following a blog and subscribed my google alerts to a company called Ugobe who released the Furby in the 80s who were developing a toy dinosaur – JOY! – that had learning capability. I thought all of my dreams had come at once. It took forever to fully develop and then get released into Australia and before I actually committed the ah hem $500 RRP they cost the company announced bankruptcy. I was devastated. And poor Pleo would soon be extinct again!

Pleo from Ugobe

But not before I saved one of those precious baby camasaurus’.

Pleo is a wonder of robotics and engineering. He has a sensitive skin and pressure zones that react to your touch, sight and sound, and he develops over time from the first time that you turn him on. He is currently crouched down on all fours very sedately snoozing on my robo-shelf as I type this. A delight and sad loss to the robot community of cool gadets that Ugobe folded. Sigh.

The TOMY i-sobot

Which brings me to my most recent find. The TOMY i-sobot. Claimed to be the worlds smallest robot at 6 1/2″ tall with over 17 servers this little beast is an absolute hoot that I MUST add to my collection. At time of posting this I couldnt find him in online stores in Australia but easily could have ordered instantly on ebay for as little as $195 AUD which I put firmly in the completely reasonable and rational purchase zone. Watch a quick video demo to see why I must have one!

So the robots are getting cheaper and cheaper and if sales of the robot vaccuum cleaner Roomba are any indication you will see more and more of cheaper priced robots finding their way into your homes and making your life easier before you can say rocketdogbulldozer.com.

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