Right now WowWee
might be the name most associated with domestic “toy” robots, but rival
Bossa Nova is looking to steal some of that market share. The company
has been demonstrating the Bossa Nova Prime-8, an ape-themed ‘bot that
they claim is the fastest bi-ped robot to date. How fast? Well,
potentially faster than a small child.
“It can run as fast as a small child. That makes it
ideal for getting kids to exercise as they can race against it in the
park” Prime-8’s inventor
Two huge circular arms are used to get Prime-8 moving, and though
Bossa Nova haven’t released any specific speed details we’d imagine a
very fast indoor rate if it can manage to chase kids on park grass. As
is usual with today’s ‘bots, Prime-8 can either be remote-controlled
or, when you’d rather leave him to his own devices, there are
autonomous routines and games.
An integrated motion sensor lets the robot act as a room guard, plus
there are games such as Prime-8 pretending to be a bowling ball. It’s
expected to cost around £100 ($143) when it launches in time for
Christmas 2009.
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