Oh! Gizmo

By David Ponce

Robots… there’s a new one everyday. This particular one is being sold by Japanese company Volks and is called ROBOFIE.

It does a bunch of things, all of which are listed inside. Out here, you’ll find out that it’s about a foot tall and weighs a kilogram. It’s allegedly more agile than AIBO, what with being able to climb stairs and, uh, fart.

It’s sold as a DIY kit, which I find a little short of insulting, since for $1,800, it could at least come pre-assembled. Then again, maybe I’m missing the point, and assembling it is half the fun.

Okay, specs inside.

Comes as a DIY kit

Comes with electromagnets built into the feet – useful for, er, walking on metal stuff.

300mm tall and weights 1kg.

Pre programmed moves are..
o Walk (really?)
o Run
o Spin
o Spin and run
o Grab items
o Throw items
o Kick (this is where kicking seven shades out of Aibo comes in handy
o Dance
o Fart

You can control Robofie with the remote and also use the CD that comes with the set to program intricate moves like “picking-nose”, “adjusting-underpants” etc.

Check out the site here. Story VIA Akihabara.