WowWee Robotics Roboquad

by Sourcing Network Sales

Product Features

• Advanced Awareness
• Light Sensor
• Sound Sensor
• Personality Settings
• Unique Movement

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 12.5 x 9 inches ; 5.5 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 22 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• Shipping Advisory: This item must be shipped separately from other items in your order. Additional shipping charges will not apply.
• ASIN: B000OF50M4
• Item model number: 8039
• Manufacturer recommended age: 8 years and up
• Batteries: 4 C batteries required.
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #106,260 in Toys & Games (See Top 100 in Toys & Games)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description Liven up your living room with the Roboquad, a four-legged, spider-like robot with unprecedented mobility and awareness. The Roboquad is designed with advanced sensory awareness, helping it react quickly to the surrounding environment and pursue a moving object in any direction, including forward, backwards, and sideways. When an object such as a cat or a remote control car passes, the robot's head swivels around so it can monitor its environment without moving. After it sweeps the room with a tightly focused infrared beam, it makes rapid decisions about how to react to its environment. Once it identifies the object--the sensitive infrared detector can see objects as far as 13 feet away while also identifying their size and spatial details--the Roboquad heads out in one of three speeds, navigating through doorways and detecting table edges in the process. Your cat will meow in amazement, as will your guests.

The 4-legged, spider-like Roboquad can pursue a moving object forward, backwards, and sideways.

The robot offers five scanning sequences: a Smart Scan, which examines the surroundings and then reacts if anything changes; Scan Left and Scan Right, where the robot turns and faces any object within a 3-foot range; Approach Nearest Object, during which the robot looks left and right while ramping up the scanning range, and then moves toward the closest object found; Escape Walk, where the robot selects the largest open space and moves toward it; and Flinch Response, which helps the robot respond to quickly approaching objects. In addition, many of the Roboquad's decisions are based on its three controllable personality settings, one each for awareness, activity, and aggression. A more aggressive Roboquad will react quicker to approaching objects than a mellower Roboquad, for example.

The robotic arthropod offers more than just movement, however, with multicolored flashing lights and techno sound effects. The Roboquad also boasts four usage modes: Direct Control, Autonomous, Guard, and Sleep. Direct Control mode invites you to control the robot's direction, style of walking (such as crab walk, stomp walk, or rotation walking), and head movements, while in Autonomous mode, the robot interacts with his environment as he moves through it. Guard and Sleep modes, meanwhile, are designed for downtime. In the former, the Roboquad visually scans the environment and stays alert for noises, then scares off intruders with a series of crazy sound effects. In the latter, the robot automatically falls asleep after five minutes of inactivity and then powers down after 24 hours.

The Roboquad's sensitive infrared scanner helps it navigate through doorways and detect table edges.

The robot owes its imaginative movements to its agile rotating legs and articulated neck, all of which respond to the machine's advanced artificial intelligence. And watch out when the Roboquad feels like getting down, as the machine includes a built-in dance demo along with a more traditional movement demo. Other details include 72 preprogrammed functions, up to 40 programmable moves, a built-in light sensor that reacts differently based on the ambient light, and a four-layer, full-function remote control. The Roboquad, which is designed for children ages eight and older, requires four C and three AAA batteries (not included) and measures 8.5 by 9 by 12.5 inches (W x H x D). It's also backed by a 90-day warranty.

What's in the Box
Roboquad, remote control, user's manual.

Product Description

Roboquad is an inquisitive robot with unique movements and an advanced sensor array. You can completely alter his personality and behavior by changing his awareness, activity and aggression fields. The full-function remote comes complete with 68 different functions, and he'll react in extraordinary ways. Roboquad even has an extended battery life for prolonged missions. Requires 4 "C" and 3 "AAA" batteries, not included.

Features:

• Remote Controller - 68 function, illuminated remote controls Roboquad's movements and behavior
• Advanced Awareness - Roboquad is more aware than any other robot thanks to his IR scanner and advanced A.I. Able to spot movement from up to 6 feet away, he can also search for and navigate doorways, and detect table edges
• Light Sensor - When the light goes out, Roboquad keeps going, turning on his head-mounted LEDs. His reactions and behaviors change as darkness falls
• Sound Sensor - Roboquad reacts to sound by quickly scanning his environment for intruders
• Personality Settings - Control Roboquad's autonomous behavior and the way he reacts to your presence by setting the Awareness, Activity or Aggression states to low, medium or high using the controller
• State of Awareness - Roboquad's awareness level affects the amount of information he processes through his sensors: at higher levels, he'll see everything and spend more time in active scanning routines
• State of Aggression - His aggression level affects his reaction to sensory input: high levels make him more angry and aggressive, and low levels make him more nervous and shy
• State of Activity - At high activity levels, Roboquad will be more active and travel further distances and at faster speeds
• Unique Movement - Roboquad's state and level settings influence his unique movements. Leave him in autonomous mode to swarm around his environment, or use the remote to control him directly
• Measures 12"L x

See all Product Description

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nice little robot, December 5, 2007

By 

Tyler Forge "realist" (Sunnydale, CA) - See all my reviews

= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: WowWee Robotics Roboquad (Electronics)

I like watching it so much that I haven't even opened it up yet. Regardless, I'm already looking at ways to mod it or control it differently. I guess that's why the "educational value" is five stars.

It has five control modes: demo, remote, program, guard, and autonomous. Demo is pretty good for when someone asks what it is or does. You'll see it more than you ever intended. Remote control is OK cause you can see how it moves on different surfaces and stuff. Program mode lets you, basically, create your own demo.

As with roboraptor, I use guard mode most. It's best for making people jump. A low awareness setting and placement near trafficked areas is efficient. High awareness is also nice because it seems to wake up every now and then. I wish I could make it scuttle away and then actively hide, but can't. It seems to wake from guard into either autonomous or runs a program. Programs can't send it to autonomous or guard. Oh well.

Autonomous mode is for having it do stuff until the battery runs out. Mostly, I like to watch it play with a roomba. Having roboquad interact with roboraptor is OK for a while, but it isn't really more interesting than a bag of furbies. I wish they could fight. Really fight.

Anyways, when autonomous or guarding, roboquad's "personality settings" help determine what it does. These settings are aggression, awareness, and activity. Awareness is basically sensor sensitivity. Activity seems to be the balance knob between scanning and moving. Aggression helps determine how it reacts when it notices stuff. I wish I could program in some reactions.

Overall, I think roboquad is worth the money. I'll probably end up with a few, but don't know if I can use the remote on one without another listening in. I wish I could program it to enter guard or autonomous mode for a time period. Then it could play sentry by marching around, guarding, etc. I also wish it had a charging cradle like my old aibo.

32 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars NEAT AND SWEET, November 8, 2007

By 

Gene Sechrest (Versailles, IN us of a) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: WowWee Robotics Roboquad (Electronics)

This product is pretty down right cool. It is quality built. Top quality in my opinion. We are for sure moving forward in eventually having an intelligent robot. No, it's not the robot from the I ROBOT movie, but you sure can start to see the development of the basic systems at work. It truly would not take much to have this seem like a very real mechanical pet. Of course we are a few years from that, but the sparks are there. If you like robots and you like remote controlled devices and you are willing to spend the time to work with it, it is for you, for sure.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars What a great toy, July 30, 2008

By 

Lawrence M. Hufty "lmhufty" (Montverde, FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: WowWee Robotics Roboquad (Electronics)

You won't be able to clean your floors, and you won't be able to have it serve you drinks, but the Roboquad will provide you with hours of fun. But not for long periods of time, and not spontaneously. Unfortunately, this guy has an on/off switch, and he doesn't go into any sort of rest power saving mode. And although you are able to program him, your instructions are lost when you turn him off. BUT, he is still fun to play with, and he is especially entertaining to the cats and dog. They just aren't sure what to make of the noisy creature that slowly "chases" him around the room. If you have some play money, and just want something fun to goof around with occasionally, then this is the toy. Have fun