September 1, 2008

Most calculators are pretty serious-looking devices – no wonder that kids might get the impression that math is boring. Now, the Poseable Robot Calculator might change that, with its brightly colored plastic body and movable arms.

July 31, 2008

Sega Toys has recently announced the newest addition to its Dream Pets collection: a 3.5-inch robot hamster called Yume Hamusutaa (“Dream Hamster”) that oozes cuteness. For instance, when you put it in the palm of your hand, the furry hamster moves in its charming hamster way.

April 9, 2008

HPI has plans to release a new DIY robot kit this summer. The robot, with the street-wise name of G-Dog, will be the robot's best friend to the company's humanoid kit, which goes by the much nerdier name of G-Robot or GR-001.

April 7, 2008

PITTSBURGH - Mark Gross, a professor in Carnegie Mellon University's School of Architecture, and Eric Schweikardt, a Ph.D. candidate, are putting a high-tech spin on building blocks for children. Gross and Schweikardt have designed "roBlocks," small, magnetic robot-blocks that children can plug together to form complex robots. The robots' behavior changes based on how the children assemble the roBlocks.

April 7, 2008

Pleo's software update 1.1 will continue Pleo's personality evolution, making him more animated, interactive, and expressive through a wider range of responses, motions, and sounds.

Here are some of the new features you can expect to see with this update:

March 28, 2008

At a weight of 5 lbs (2.3 kg) and a height of 11 in (27 cm), ApriPoko is about the size of a small lapdog. And, like a dog, it can be trained - not to fetch the paper, but to change the TV channel for you.

March 4, 2008

PLEASANTON, Calif. - The Readybot Robot Challenge has released a preview video of their kitchen-cleaning robot prototype. (See below.)

Started by a group of veteran Silicon Valley engineers, the Readybot Challenge is a non-profit effort similar to the DARPA Grand Challenge robot car race. The goal of the Readybot Challenge is very simple. "People ask what will be the breakthrough application for consumer robotics," comments Tom Benson, team leader, "we think people want a robot that can clean the kitchen."

February 23, 2008

If the wooden rocking horse is getting a little old-fashioned, KOTA the triceratops will have your kids riding and rocking again in no time.

Playskool has recently announced five new toys to celebrate its 80th anniversary, with KOTA featuring the latest in animatronics for pre-schoolers. The 40-inch-long baby dinosaur "comes to life" by reacting to touch and sound, as well as roaring and moving like a real dinosaur.

February 19, 2008

IRobotics toys are taking over the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City during the 2008 New York International Toy Fair, February 17 - 20, as Innovation First, Inc. debuts a new line-up of innovative toys sure to wow and amaze children of all ages.

January 25, 2008

Spartanburg, SC -- January 21, 2008 -- Today, a free version of a Christian artificial intelligence (AI) software program known as godsbot was made available to the public for a period of time. Designed to be an entertaining and educational online companion, inventor Ron Ingram says he believes that this program has the potential to be a very effective instrument for communicating Christian views. Ingram has chosen to provide free temporary access to a public version of godsbot for three reasons.

January 23, 2008

ThinkGeek.com has a unique toy for sale: a robot pencil sharpener - or, more technically, a "Semi-Automatic Graphite Enhancement Automaton." That's verbatim from the product page.

The robot pencil sharpener won't sharpen your pencil for you like an electric pencil sharpener, but it does look like a robot, and it does walk. After you hand-sharpen a pencil in the hole in its chest, the robot's 4" power core gets wound up. When you're done, the pencil sharpener will start walking forward on its two mechanical legs.

Janurary 11, 2008

Mr. Clock Radio is the first alarm clock with a robotic head that takes its job to issue wake-up calls very seriously.

The robotic radio has 30 different ways to wake sleepers up in the morning, including everything from a gentle, motherly voice to shouting like a drill sergeant. If you hit the snooze button too many times, Mr. Clock Radio can even become downright nasty with its scolding.

January 11, 2008

The new robot called "Mr. Personality" is one of the latest consumer robots unveiled by WowWee at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week. Openly trying to throw off the stereotype of unemotional robots, Mr. Personality aims to be the first party animal robot.

January 11, 2008

The baby Camarasaurus created by engineers at Ugobe is cute, sensitive, and emotionally responsive. In other words, baby Pleo is not your typical robot.

But its makers didn't want to make Pleo just another robot. In fact, they would prefer that people not think of Pleo as a robot at all, but rather as a baby dinosaur that's life-like if not truly alive.

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