Customer Reviews

Erector Spykee - The Spy Robot

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I got one of these from Toys R Us for Christmas. Here's my review of it. 1st the instructions could have been written better. (a lot Better)After spending 3 hours to get it together its a lot of fun. being able to control it from anywhere via wi-fi is cool. There is a slight curve in learning to maneuver it around without tipping it over (once its tipped your done if you are remotely controlling it) all in all its a pretty cool toy, yes, just a toy, that said here's what I'd like to see improved in the next version or maybe just an update to this.
1 The camera, there's no zoom, pan, tilt or rotate on this so what you see when controlling it is strait ahead. Seems like this would have been and easy addition since there are already web cams out that can do this
2 the arms, the arms, they do nothing, can we get some arms that maybe pick things up? or maybe even assist when the thing is tipped over.
3 The Sound, the volume is not very good, if your in a quiet room yes you can hear the thing. but the slightest noise downs it out..maybe we can get stereo speakers with a little more volume?

All in all I'm happy with this product and feel its worth the money. yes I'd like to see improvements, but compared to other items like it on the market this one rocks..

My wife ended up buying this for me (after recommendation from myself) and I was very excited.

The first thing I did after receiving it was to put the base into the charger. The unit arrives uncharged, so I strongly recommend starting with this step.

The next thing you will notice, is that you have a box full of bags of parts, and nothing that looks like a robot. The base turns out to be one of the last pieces you will use, which means most of the assembly can commence while the charging is occurring.

Assembly is somewhat tedious, though not overly difficult if you take your time. It will take you an hour or two, to do, so make sure not to get overly anxious as there is a lot of work between receiving and using.

The most difficult part seems to be the wireless configuration. There are a lot of rules to follow, a few of which may require you to reconfigure your home wireless network. Spykee doesn't like spaces or special characters in network names, and even in passwords. It took me several resets before I came to realize this was the problem.

The biggest downfall once you are up and running is the fact that the camera isn't movable. The issue is that the higher you have the camera pointed, the less ground you see and the harder it is to navigate. The lower you have it the easier to drive, but the less you can actually see. Once its up and running this seems to be the biggest downfall. Also, Spykee features a light that can be switched on for dark rooms. I found the only thing this light really lets me do is avoid hitting stuff I'm right next to. The light is nowhere strong enough to allow practical use of the robot in a pitch black room...

Also, the robot has a vox mode, allowing the user to speak and listen though the robot, however if you try to do so without some kind of headset you will get a lot of echo. One of the reasons I got it was so that instead of calling a friend or messaging them, I can have them connect and interact with them...

The remote mode, which allows access from outside your home, is nice and works without much lag. The only problem I found with it is that my work's firewall is blocking the ports necessary for access. But aside from at work it allows me to take a look around my house from almost any computer...

Pretty good fun. It didnt take me too long assemble Spykee and after alot of button pushing/page turning this thing does work as advertised. I have no problems accessing and controlling the robot in local or remote modes. My wife likes to follow me around the house with it while she is in class. You can skpe using a regular usb headset( I use the one from my PS2), and its rather cool. It would be nice if Spykee's arms moved though. It is and Erector product so its compatible with Eretor pieces. I have even done a few low-tech modifications using a reciever and a few servos from one of my rc helicopters giving Spykee mobility in a few joints when in local mode. The developers could have given him a few more functions but overall, Spykee is a lot of fun. Maybe I'll arm him with an airsoft weapon...hmm.

This thing is great and I got a rocking deal from COSTCO ($214.00)

Takes a while to build dependent on the configuration - but that gave it time to charge.
My Kid loves it he thinks its WallE

Camera works great - surprisingly enough.

The coolest thing is how it drives itself back to its base for recharging....

Well, at first setting the robot up was a little hard - I didn't know a lot about wireless networking and even though it has Windows instructions my laptop has Dell's cool utility on top of that. Once I understood what the instructions were saying it was easy.

Putting the robot together was not hard, bu it was fun. I read the review below that said it isn't more educational than a pile of bricks. I disagree, I learned a whole lot about wireless netowrks, and remote control over the internet that I didn't know yet.

I wish it could climb stairs like it said. It can't. It's really cool how it can find it's home to recharge. I recommend it as fun and really cool

I didn't try technical support, but to say it's a waste makes it no different than any of the other tech support lines I call - cable tv, Earthlink etc. None of them are very helpful so I didn't even try.

I recieved the product as described from Amazon, although the package was slightly damaged. The assembly direction are okay at best. Upon completing the assembly the drive unit did not work. I called spykee's support number and recieved someone in France after waiting for 1 hr 15 min. and then found out that I needed to send an e-mail to the company to find out how to get the product repaired. It has been three days and I still have not recieved an e-mail back. BEWARE OF THIS PRODUCT DUE TO BAD CUSTOMER SUPPORT AND SERVICE. I RETURNED MINE.

Due to the many poor reviews I just had to put in my two cents...we got this after a great deal thru Woot. It arrived, we put it together in about 1 hour. The instructions were easy to read and follow (not sure why everyone is having such difficulty with this?). Let it charge for 3.5 hours as stated, and we were up and running in no time. It immediately worked in ad hoc mode, I selected our wifi network, it immediately connected with that. Went to a free wifi hotspot with the laptop to control it remotely and it worked great that way too!

That being said, we use it to spy on our pets, not potential intruders that we expect to use the video/audio in court or some other such thing. This is a TOY. A fun toy, but a toy nonetheless. It was fun to put together, so far it has withstood running around the kitchen & living room, being attacked by a cat, followed by a couple dogs, etc. It finds its charging dock well (after positioning Spykee nearby), and we have had absolutely no problems with it. -Have not had to deal with any customer service, but typically customer service is horrible across the board so I wouldn't expect anything less (more) for Spykee.

First of all, I do not consider this a toy so all those reviewers below who have bought it for their kids, take it back from them and play with it yourself.

Initial build I would say requires patience more than anything else. Take your time and understand the different parts and the angle they are shown in the instructions. This will pay off big time! Allow 2 to 3 continuous hours at least. Once built, put on the charger for a day! Once charged, allow another 2 to 3 hours to set it up. Start with the simple local direct mode and then configure the more complex modes with the remote mode the last. Remember, that the complex modes require you to have through knowledge of WiFi configuration of your router, especially port forwarding. Check your router manual to ensure you will be able to do this. Also remote mode require you to have access to skypee outside of your Wifi and lan. You will probably need to go to your mall or starbucks to test this (somewhere not too far from home).

Auto docking is a hit or miss. What I have learnt is that if you stop about 3 feet in front of the charging unit with the back of the unit to it and then select autopark, it tends to find it. Always leave enough charge on the unit to park successfully. As a confirmation of parking, what I do and recommend is, after auto parking, start the unit again and reverse back into the charging unit so that secure contact is made to the charging connections.

When using it remotely ( and I use it from UK to USA), ensure you have good bandwith at the location you are at. Be careful when going against walls as it will topple over.

I use this as a security cam and for me it works great. I've had it for 8 months now.

Good luck!

I recently picked up one of these through Woot, which definitely made the pricing attractive!

It took about 2 hours to assemble, pretty straightforward by looking at the pictures. I did not find the addendum with revised instructions necessary, but I could see how the original procedure could be awkward. Incidentally, if you're just interested in experimenting with a camera-equipped robot, the bulk of the parts assembly is purely decorative. You only really need to build a support for the camera, and you're in business. I'm basically disassembling mine right now and replacing the body with a cargo compartment.

The networking is tremendously impressive. There is clearly a lot of horsepower under the hood here. I got it working in local and remote mode with no problems. However, the process is somewhat complex. I personally didn't have to make any changes to my network for it to work - however, your experience might be different. If so, a good understanding of wireless networks will help a great deal. There is a complex system of passwords and robot names that has to be set up correctly before anything will work.

Play value is good. The software is reliable and easy to use. I spent a while playing with the robot and a 6 year old, it was fun to make up challenges and games, ie steering the robot around the house, through different rooms, finding and pushing different objects, taking pictures of designated targets, etc.

Using the robot cam with Skype requires third-part software, I used the SpkCam driver from [...]. This worked fine with Skype and with other video software. The robot's video stream turns up as just another standard webcam.

Would strongly recommend looking at the few Spykee hack/mod sites out there. Some of the software they have produced is much better than the official one, including more precise motor control and the ability to add more motors.

I take off a star for the lack of the (promised) software development kit, and the lack of further articulation and motors. Also, this is a vastly more sophisticated and complex product than it appears - it is far, far more than a remote control robot. There's an embedded Linux computer in there, a bunch of microcontrollers, WiFi networking, a full Internet communications stack, etc. It would make a great hacking platform, but sadly the manufacturers have not made this possible.

Got it as a gift and had fun from the get go. The network based control is easy to setup and ready go quickly. Right now my brother is controlling it from 1000 miles away. He's running it around chasing the dog. With the built in mic and speaker we can have a conversation with a interactive device then just a stand alone webcam and computer.