We bow down to our robot overlords
One of the biggest Christmas present items of the last couple of years was the rather impressive RoboSapien. The technology involved in this unique robot was exceptional, and both children and adults alike enjoyed programming and playing with it.
Now WowWee, the company behind RoboSapien, has returned with another great gift item for this year: the MiPosaur.
As you can no doubt tell from the title, this is a robot dinosaur, but there’s nothing prehistoric about the technology it uses and how you can interact with it.
The MiPosaur measures roughly 400mm in length from the snout to the tip of the tail and is about 200mm from its wheeled feet to the top of its head. It’s robustly constructed from a tough plastic throughout, and it feels pretty solid in the hand. It’s obvious that this isn’t a run-of-the-mill, cheaply produced product, but something that will last well beyond the festive period.
Once you’ve tackled with the extreme amount of packaging the MiPosaur comes in and inserted the four AA batteries into the compartment in the robot’s belly, you can begin to interact with it and the numerous sensors it has.
In addition to the actual MiPosaur itself, the package also comes with a Trackball, which requires four AAA batteries. The Trackball works as a kind of ‘toy’ for the MiPosaur to play with, by allowing you to select a number of items from a selection wheel. For example, you can have the MiPosaur dance with the appropriate icon from the wheel selected. Or you can use the Trackball as a kind of lead to walk the MiPosaur around with, or even have it chase the ball, as you would throw a ball for a dog.
The interactions go further than simply using the Trackball, though. There’s a collection of IR, sound, light and motion detection sensors throughout the MiPosaur, and with these sensors you can control it via a series of hand gestures above, in front or behind.
You can make the MiPosaur move forward, back, spin either direction and sit down. You can even make it purr, bark and pant. These actions are dependent on the current mood of the MiPosaur; the default is Curious, which is indicated by a large blue LED on the neck of the MiPosaur. Other moods include Excited and Annoyed, and with each different mood, the MiPosaur can be interacted with and played with according to the gestures or with the Trackball. You can actually simulate stroking the MiPosaur to help calm it down from annoyed back to Curious.
There’s a lot going on with the MiPosaur just with the Trackball and gesture interaction. However, to further increase its abilities, you can download a free app for both Android and iOS.
The app allows you use your device to control the MiPosaur, play a game with it, virtually feed it and fight with other MiPosaurs. There are also plans for more content such as a storybook mode and find and seek mode, with the probability of more as the development of the app improves.
To be honest, we had a lot of fun with the MiPosaur. It’s a very well designed product and we found the interaction to be extremely easy to use. There are times when the MiPosaur may miss a gesture, but slowing down slightly and repeating the move usually sorts any misread commands out.
All in all, it’s a fun and unique gift for the curious and technologically minded young person or young at heart. For around £99, it’s not too badly priced either. David Hayward
A fun robot dinosaur, with plenty of interaction available.