Toy Business News by Bossa Nova Concepts

Webcam-based 3D scanning

2009-12-11T17:15:00.001-08:00

ProFORMA (which stands for 'Probabilistic Feature-based On-line Rapid Model Acquisition', if you must know) is some cool system that turns any ordinary webcam into a powerful 3D scanning tool. In fact, a camera is pretty much all you need for some "on-line" modeling action -- no laser or green screen necessary -- meaning the 3D models are constructed on the spot while you slowly rotate the objects, although ProFORMA can also track fast moving objects as shown in the demo video.

Article Link (Gizmodo)

Robot dance

2009-12-11T17:12:00.001-08:00

Article Link (Gizmodo)

Robotic Heads

2009-12-11T17:09:00.001-08:00

Talk about the uncanny valley..

These are three singing robots manufactured into a performing trio. The animatronic heads from artist Nathaniel Mellor are part of a $75,000 art piece on sale at Art Basel Miami Beach 2009. The artificial faces are controlled by servos which in turn are controlled by a computer. The uncontrolled fear you'll feel when watching the video is, however, completely natural.

Article Link (Gizmodo)

Pingo the desktop robot penguin at $150

2009-12-11T17:06:00.001-08:00

This penguin bot is a ridiculously interactive alert system for news, email, Facebook updates, and whatever else you set him to check for. I say "ridiculously interactive," because Pingo reacts to pokes, shakes, and voice commands and can be nurtured and played with as if a pet. I'm sure all of those things would turn more annoying than useful or entertaining quickly, but the damn thing is way to freakin' cute for me to care.

At $149, Pingo is definitely more expensive than the Furbies it acts and looks like, but—never mind the features—the minimal creepiness is worth the price difference.

Previous Post (5 July 2009)
Article Link (Gizmodo)

Rewards Of 'Free-To-Play' MMOs

2009-11-12T09:55:00.001-08:00

James reveals that Three Rings' MMO Puzzle Pirates takes in approximately $50 each month from each paying user (ARPPU) for a total of $230,000 a month, all resulting from microtransactions.

In February, 2005, James chose to launch a free-to-play version of Puzzle Pirates alongside the original subscription model (which contributes an additional $70,000 each month from subscription fees).

Four and a half years later, James has learned a lot -- that the average revenue per user (ARPU) is between one and two dollars a month, but only about 10% of his player base has ever paid him anything. As a result, he says, approximately 5,000 gamers are generating the $230,000 in revenue he sees each month.

"The pivot number -- the number to focus on -- is not the $50 ARPPU but the $1-2 ARPU," he says. "That's the number that a new paying customer is worth to you. If that number were, say, 20 cents, you'd probably have a difficult time building a business."

"But if that number were, say, $3 then you have a good business that enables you to go to a flash distribution site and say, 'Hey, put my game up on your site and I'll give you a dollar for every new user you send me.' They'd surely be interested in that."

Article Link (Gamasutra)

iRobot creates new business unit for healthcare robotics

2009-11-05T19:02:00.001-08:00

It looks like iRobot is betting on healthcare robotics in a fairly big way, with it taking advantage of the recent TEDMED conference to announce that it's forming a new business unit focused solely on the still burgeoning industry. That unit will be headed up by Tod Loofbourrow, who [...] thinks "the long-term potential of robotics to extend independent living is profound." While he's just as light on specifics, iRobot CEO Colin Angle is no less ambitious about the company's goals, saying that iRobot's "healthcare mission is add a million years of independent living to our customers."

ROPID Robot Jumps And Runs

2009-10-29T15:32:00.001-07:00

Aside from supposedly being the fastest runner and best jumper among similarly constructed robots, ROPID also responds to voice commands, with action and speech.

Article Link (Gizmodo)

Boston Dynamics PETMAN biped robot

2009-10-27T13:36:00.001-07:00

This biped humanoid is being built by Boston Dynamics to test military suits used to protect soldiers in chemical warfare. As an evolutionary advance from its four-legged BigDog platform, PETMAN does the ol' heel-toe at a healthy 3.2 MPH (5.14 KPH) and packs enough balancing intelligence to remain upright even when given a shove from the side.

Article Link (Engadget)

New Bluetooth Runs for a Year Off a Watch Battery

2009-10-19T10:03:00.001-07:00

By Texas Instruments, a new, 6mm-square Bluetooth system-on-a-chip can operate for "more than a year" on a small button-cell battery.

Article Link (Gizmodo)

Panasonic's Dishwashing Robot

2009-10-19T01:15:00.001-07:00

Article Link (Gizmodo)

New Wi-Fi Direct to Connect Gadgets Without Routers

2009-10-18T15:53:00.001-07:00

Coming mid-2010 there will be a new Wi-Fi standard that will allow any Wi-Fi gadget to connect wirelessly with each other without having to go through a wireless router. The best thing: It will only require a software update.

The new standard is called Wi-Fi Direct and—unlike Bluetooth—the technology will enjoy exactly the same speed and range as Wi-Fi. The Wi-Fi Alliance—which
includes Intel, Microsoft, and Apple—says that it will
automatically detect and hitch any device equipped with Wi-Fi within a
300 range, from computers to cameras to TVs to printers to anything in
between. All peer-to-peer.

Article Link (Gizmodo)

DASH - Industructible Running Hexapod

2009-10-18T15:18:00.001-07:00

DASH, a UC Berkeley-designed, cockroach-inspired robot, manages to take what makes cockroaches so resilient and even retain the cockroach's singularly creepy movement. This thing is near-indestructible.

The 10-cm long DASH, which stands for Dynamic Autonomous Sprawled Hexapod, weighs only 16 grams, yet is able to run 15 times its body length per second. It has a uniquely flexible design from nearly all sides that allows it to survive pretty much anything, including a drop eight stories above the ground. It's actually made of what's basically laminated cardboard, which means it's a very cheap robot to build as well.

Article Link (Gizmodo)

MIT's autonomous helicopter

2009-10-18T14:08:00.001-07:00

The latest Micro Air Vehicle from MIT does an incredible job of balancing itself in-air. Not to mention that the helicopter models it's surroundings so well it could probably fly over to the fridge and make you a sandwich. By using lasers and 3D cameras, the team built a vision engine that can very accurately define the helicopter's surrounding environment. That's only part of the trick to getting it to fly so well, the other half is some pretty sweet flight path correction.

Article Link (Gizomod)

Vstone's Robovie-PC humanoid robot

2009-10-05T07:43:00.001-07:00

The Robovie-PC from Vstone [] has a 1.6GHz Atom Z530
processor, dual USB ports, a VGA connector, and even Wi-Fi. There's a
1.3 megapixel camera on its head, which shows a lot of potential. Since the robot is
the computer, able to run Windows or Linux, advanced functionality
should be much easier to achieve. The 15-inch tall bot will cost ¥399,999, or about
$4,500.

Article Link (Engadget)

Vstone's tiny Robovie-nano humanoid robot

2009-10-05T07:37:00.001-07:00

There is certainly no shortage of humanoid robots conspiring to attack your savings, but few look to offer the combination of tiny size and amazing dexterity of the Robovie-nano, the little guy from Vstone who is now shipping to would-be Dr. Frankensteins. He's just 230mm tall (about nine inches) and weighs 575g (about a pound and a quarter), but looks to be at least as nimble as larger forebearers and is far cheaper than most, costing just ¥49,350 ($540) to start.

Article Link (Engadget)

Ball sensor as a game controller

2009-10-04T10:49:00.001-07:00

The startup Ball-it markets a golfball-sized device that is able to interact with your computer, TV or mobile phone thanks to physical wireless sensing technology that was popularized in large part by the Nintendo Wii gaming console. Since it detects things like rotation, direction movements, squeezing, tapping and reaction speed, there are loads of gestures that you can make wielding the ball trigger an on-screen activity

You can place the ball in your pants pockets, after which the device will be able to detect your running speed, how high you jump, and more to control elements of basic sports games. Besides doubling as a pedometer, it also measures how many calories you burn so you can use to improve your fitness, too. Ball-it aims to be able to distribute the device in the near future for 15 or 16 euros (approx. $22) and includes a couple of basic PC games in the same box.

Article Link (TechCrunch)

iTag, Mattel's Augmented Reality

2009-10-03T03:04:00.001-07:00

Technology by Total Immersion.

Article Link (TechCrunch)

Robonica

2009-09-28T16:20:00.001-07:00

Roboni-i is arguably the biggest thing to hit the robot-toy business since the uber-popular Lego Mindstorms. And the new robot is emerging just a few miles from Salem, in Beverly, MA, where Robonica is headquartered. But there’s also a South African side to the story: Robonica CEO Johan Poolman, an electrical engineer by training, is the founder of a series of technology companies in the Johannesburg area, and works from the company’s R&D and manufacturing facilities in Centurion, a suburb of Pretoria. The company has 45 employees in Centurion, and obtained 100 percent of its financing from a pair of technology investment funds run by the South African government, Dusenberry says.

Dusenberry says the primary target audience for the Roboni-i is 13- to 17-year-old boys, for whom the remote-controlled devices will provide, in his words, “a killer interactive entertainment experience.” But after watching a demonstration at last week’s MassTLC Tech Tuesday event at Microsoft’s NERD Center in Cambridge—and, I admit, after taking the Roboni-i for a spin myself—I think it’s safe to say that the nimble little machines will appeal to gadget lovers of all ages.

Roboni-i comes pre-programmed with six action games that, in the words of a company announcement, challenge players to “beat the odds, race against time, manage resources, neutralize threats, execute special effects and collect bonus points to improve score.” Using the remote control, players can maneuver the robots around pylons, saucers, balls, and other accessories; the units also have sensors that allow them to navigate autonomously or interact with other Roboni-i devices. (You need to go and watch the video on the Robonica home page to really get it.) For players who want to continue the experience online, there’s an entire Web-based game built around the foot-high devices—which somehow manage to look menacing and cute at the same time.

And for serious amateur roboticists, the units come with a USB cables and PC-based “command center” software that allows users to rewrite the robots’ basic instructions. “We think there’s a huge secondary market among people interested in artificial intelligence and robotic science and people who love programming and modifying products,” says Dusenberry.

“With Roboni-i, the major differentiator is being able to go in and customize and personalize the robot so that you can change the game experience. Where we differ from every other robot on the market is that we’re providing the source code and encouraging people to modify the actual C++.”

Dusenberry says he hopes that Robonica can tap into same kind of enthusiasm for hands-on engineering experiences that has catapulted the FIRST Robotics Competition, the creation of New Hampshire inventor-entrepreneur Dean Kamen, into the global spotlight, with hundreds of student teams competing every year. “We think FIRST is beyond awesome, and we totally support that whole program,” he says. “From the point of view of our product, we are contacting local high schools to go in and meet with classes. We hope that they see that this could be a great tool for learning about robotics pretty cost-effectively.”

Article Link (Xconomy)

Online retail business

2009-09-28T16:10:00.001-07:00

As a retailer, NewEgg’s’s profit margins are slim. It was only 1.4% in 2008. Amazon’s profit margins are around 3.3%, which is double Newegg’s margins.

Article Link (Techcrunch)

Pet Care Robot

2009-09-15T02:09:00.001-07:00

Quite similar to a WowWee Rovio, the Pet Care Robot (concept) is a Wi-Fi controlled bot that can serve as your remote eyes and ears from a web interface. But what's a bit different than a Rovio is that this robot allows you to play fetch through a remote controlled ball you can steer around the house—all while nurturing your animal through a built-in speaker in the robot's base.

Article Link (Gizmodo)

Laundry Folding

2009-09-15T02:08:00.001-07:00

Designed by Professor Masahiko Inami and his team at Keio University,
Foldy the robot uses commands entered into a PC program along with a
ceiling-mounted camera to locate and properly fold your laundry every
time. After folding instructions for various types of clothing have
been entered into the program, Foldy can work autonomously. A RC
vehicle is probably not the most practical device for this purpose, but
I'm glad to see that someone has invested a lot of time and effort in
solving this critical problem.

Article Link (Gizmodo)

Robini-i

2009-08-28T07:23:00.001-07:00

The two-wheeled bot has 16 sensors and four processors, and either happily wanders around on its own, or you can take control. Windows software and a USB hookup lets you program all aspects of its behavior, including moods, reaction to stimuli, and if it freaks out or mingles when it meets other robots.

The $250 starter kit (available September 28) includes base stations, hubs, and gaming cards to set up real world playing fields. What caught my eye: a specially tagged ball allows for a variety of competitive ball games (the Roboni-i has a special scoop and uses Zigbee RF too).

You can also go online to play video-game based matches, track stats, or get tips from the Robini-i community.

Article Link (Gizmodo)

Robot Fish

2009-08-25T13:32:00.001-07:00

Article Link (Gizmodo)

High-Speed Manipulator

2009-08-09T19:08:00.001-07:00

Ishikawa Hashimoto Laboratory

More detailed video here.

Article Link (Gizmodo)

Humanoid Running

2009-08-09T19:04:00.001-07:00

Toyota's Asimo

Article Link (Gizmodo)

Bossa Nova's Sub-$100 Robots Move Fast, Birth 'Bebes' (Hands-on)

2009-07-17T02:45:00.001-07:00

We stopped by Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh last week to get a sneak peek at a couple of new toys from Bossa Nova Robotics. The upstart company hopes it has found a niche in the toy market with Prime-8 and Penbo, which are inexpensive consumer robots spawned from multi-million dollar robotics
research at the university's Robotics Institute. "We have democratized
robots," co-founder John Fegali told us at the demo session.

Let's
start with Prime-8. It's a rough and tumble robot for boys that
resembles a gorilla -- if a gorilla were bright yellow and sped around
with arms that rotate in a complete circle. As co-founder and chief
operating officer David Palmer said: "One thing that never seems to go
out of fashion is action and dynamic toys." That's hard to argue, too.
Folks, this robot can move, and move fast, thanks to a a bi-pedal
design that transforms into a locomotive system when it gets on its
hands (which are wheels), making it glide across the floor at much the
same speed as an RC Car. It also doesn't require sensors to guide it
across the ground (sensors give the illusion of intelligence, but they
tend to slow robots down). Instead, Prime-8 is operated with an
infrared controller that is fairly responsive, though we did notice
some precision problems during out time controlling the bot.

Prime-8
has different 'emotions' -- if he's happy, he farts, but if he's angry,
he roars and glows red. He also plays a number of games (including
shooting toy rockets at, say, someone's little sister) and synchronizes
with other bots (we watched as co-founder and chief technology officer
Dr. Sarjoun Skaff made three Prime-8s do identical dances, but shhh,
that's not advertised on the packaging). For $99.99, Prime-8 has a lot
of features packed into its compact body. That said, the maing thing
that really sets apart this toy from other mass market robots, like Robosapien,
is its combination of wheels, two 'legs,' and it's ability to put on
some speed. We haven't seen a bot on the market that moves as fast as
Prime-8.

Then there's Penbo--a furry pink penguin that oozes cute and waddles upright using the same technology as Prime-8. As with the baby-dino robot Pleo,
Penbo is autonomous and isn't operated with a remote. Instead of
action, it focuses on nurturing. Touch its heart, and the stomach opens
to reveal an egg that contains a fuzzy little 'BeBe.' You can remove
'BeBe' from the egg, and Penbo communicates' with it in a number of
ways. It might rock the baby to sleep or play hide-and-seek with the
offspring. According to Fegali, it took some hard work for the team to
really get in touch with its feminine side and decide what features to
use on Penbo. "It's actually really difficult to build a robot for
girls," he said. After plenty of market research and some one-on-one
conversations, the Bossa Nova team says it discovered that girls wanted
a more interactive and nurturing experience with a bot, as opposed to
Prime-8's action-packed design (what, girls don't like action?).

Penbo
is a little bit cheaper ($69.99) than Prime-8, but it doesn't seem to
'do' as much as either. During our time with the bot, we just sort of
patted its head, listened to it 'sing,' and watched it waddle across
the floor. Plus, it's just so darn cute, with those big eyes, that it's
almost scary. Then again, we don't exactly think like a five-year-old
girl. Maybe Penbo will keep them distracted for hours on end? What do
we know, we're action-junkies.

Prime-8 will be available via QVC on July 25, and Penbo will debut in mid-August on the shopping channel. However, you can find both on Amazon.com
starting August 1. In a market that has lacked a 'must-have' product
since Furby, Bossa Nova might have a hot-seller on its hands, if for no
other reason than it fills some previously unaddressed voids: Designing
a robot for each gender is certainly a smart move, we think, and
personally, we can't wait to get our hands for more time on both of
them.

Article Link

Prime 8 - UK

2009-07-16T09:19:00.001-07:00

This noisy, banana-yellow gorilla robot whirls around on oversized,
rocket-firing arms, comes complete with programmed ‘mood swings’ and is
guaranteed to create chaos under the control of a child. You have been
warned.

Article Link

Sega Toys' Dream Cat Venus

2009-07-14T23:29:00.001-07:00

DSega Toys has unveiled yet another iteration of the fake cat. Dream Cat Venus -- as this one's been dubbed -- has sensors in its forehead, and touch sensors in its body so that it can react when petted. Apparently more lifelike than previous version Smile, Venus also purrs when certain words are spoken. $110

Article Link (Engadget)

Both touch and sound sensitive, the Venus (no relation to the planet or the feminine razor) reacts to your petting and talking with a proper amount of nudging and purring. And like the Sony Aibo, the Dream Cat can actually "see" through its camera-enabled eyes.

But does this poor robot need to look like the product from a My First Taxidermy kit? Drop the realism for a moment, Sega, and let these helpless kittenbots out of your dungeon in the uncanny valley.

Article Link (Gizmodo)

Image Stabilization

2009-07-14T21:31:00.001-07:00

Adobe and University of Wisconsin scientists have created software that can correct shaky camerawork. Using 3D modeling, it guesses the intended look, then warps the original video to adjust.

Article Link (Gizmodo)

Teens Don't Use Twitter

2009-07-14T21:15:00.001-07:00

According to June, 2009 comScore numbers, 11.3% of visitors to Twitter.com in the U.S. are ages 12-17. Internationally, in May, 2009, only 4.4% of visitors were younger then 18.

If you look at technologies trending with teens right now, it’s Apple devices (iPhone, iPod), smart phones (Blackberry, Palm), and then social networks (Facebook and MySpace). At least that’s what I see from hanging out with 1,500 other teenagers in high school every day (I am 16 years old). But why not Twitter? Well, because Twitter is a different type of social network than Facebook. Facebook is about connecting people, and sharing information with each other. The way my friends and I see it, Facebook is a closed network. It’s a network of people and friends that you trust to be connected to, and to share information like your email address, AIM screen name, and phone number. You know who’s getting your status messages, because you either approved or added each person to your network.

With Twitter, it’s the exact opposite. Anyone can follow your status updates. It’s a completely open network that makes teenagers feel “unsafe” about posting their content there, because who knows who will read it. Sure, you get emails notifying you when you have new followers, but that doesn’t compare to the level of detail you get when someone on Facebook adds you, and you get their information.

Twitter is also seen as more expensive to keep up with than Facebook. Most of my friends spend their time playing video games, watching TV, surfing online, and text messaging to actual friends who you know will reply back. In an economy like this, most parents don’t want to spend the extra money on unlimited texting to total strangers. So why spend money on sending SMS updates to Twitter, when you can send updates to someone you know will read it and reply?

Article Link (TechChrunch)

Bossa Nova Prime-8 Robot Walks Runs on His Hands, Smashes Aibos to Bits

2009-07-13T21:53:00.001-07:00

What's special about Bossa Nova's Prime-8 robot—a $100 descendant of DARPA and Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute's $20,000-a-pop all-terrain RHex designed for 10-year-old boys? It's the fastest bipedal toy robot ever. Just watch.

Prime-8 and Penbo (shown here) are the launch products for Bossa Nova Robotics, a spinoff of Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute with a really simple goal: To take awesome robotics tech out of the lab and put it in the hands of real people.

Here, the primary technology repackaging is its form of locomotion,
inspired by the biomechanics of a cockroach, whose pliant legs allow it
to quickly scurry over rough, broken terrain without thinking about it.
These make a complete revolution (unlike the roach's legs), but the
mechanics of them are similar—neither RHex nor Prime-8 need sensors to
move and balance. To see some of the relation between Prime-8 and RHex,
RHex climbing some stairs:

Prime-8 does more than run circles around other robots, though—it
intelligently re-balances itself automatically, plays games, can run
amok autonomously, shoot rockets and synchronize with other Prime-8s.
It's controlled via an infrared remote that's shaped like a generic
videogame controller. It's designed for kids around 8 years old. (I
hope they haven't played too many videogames before picking Prime-8's
controller, actually, since there's a lack of precision in the controls
that someone used to precise responses from inputs might be frustrated
with.)

That said, it's a lot of fun to play with, and pretty easy to pick
up and start slamming into stuff. I'd love to run it around on some
rougher terrain, as well, since it's designed to be tough—supposedly,
it can hold up after falling off of a table. There's definitely a more
visceral joy playing with Prime-8 than with some of the other robots
I've play with—the speed, the form (not a generic robot shape), the
kinetic-ness of it.

Both Prime-8 and Penbo launch on QVC on July 25 for $100 and $80,
respectively, before hitting Amazon a little bit later, and possibly
online stores for Walmart and Target for the holidays.

Bossa Nova is planning on using the same movement tech in future
robots as well, so they all move in roughly the same manner—Penbo, a
penguin, uses the same movement system, just slightly tweaked so it
waddles.

Article Link

Bossa Nova Penbo: The "First Real Robot for Girls" Is a Pink, Waddling Penguin With a Baby

2009-07-13T21:52:00.001-07:00

The adorable pink counterpart to Prime-8,
Penbo is supposedly the "first real robot for girls." It uses the same
locomotion tech derived from the buggy RHex robot, but cutified so it
waddles.
And yes, it has a baby. Called Bebe. Cute overload, for sure. Unlike
Prime-8, it's not strictly remote-controlled—it responds to touch and
voice and...the baby, which is the closest thing it has to a remote
control, since it'll summon Penbo and interact and play games with it.
Penbo responds differently to different color babies—there are 4
colors, each with around 21 features.

But really, the best feature is the Penbo dance, which you can see
in the video above: Put two together and they waddlewaddlewaddle. Which
is how I guess they make more babies.

Penbo will hit QVC with Prime-8 on July 25, then Amazon later on, for $80.

BOSSA NOVA ROBOTICS,

A SPINOFF FROM CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY'S ROBOTICS INSTITUTE,

RETURNS TO CAMPUS TO UNVEIL ITS FIRST LINE OF PERSONAL ENTERTAINMENT ROBOTS

Affordable Robots Feature Revolutionary 'Ani-Motion' Technology And Encourage Interactive Play

PITTSBURGH - July 9, 2009 - After four years of development, Bossa
Nova Robotics, a Pittsburgh-based, robotics company and spinoff from
Carnegie Mellon University's (CMU) Robotics Institute, today unveiled
its first line of personal entertainment robots. Combining the magic of
agile robots with a rich play experience, Bossa Nova presented two
interactive and enriching biped robots modeled after the way kids play:
Prime-8, a fast-paced gorilla robot, and Penbo, an adorable penguin
with baby robot.

Bossa Nova's launch comes on the heels of the opening of Carnegie
Science Center's roboworld™, the world's largest permanent robotics
exhibition, and further establishes Pittsburgh's position as the
nation's hub for robotics education, research and development. Penbo
and Prime-8 will be used in roboworld's innovative Robot Workshop to
help visitors understand the many uses of robotic technology beyond
familiar industrial environments and experience the many ways robots
are already in their homes.

Bossa Nova's robots evolved from RHex, a fast-moving, agile, hexapod
robot which was developed from 1999 to 2004 as a collaboration between
the CMU Robotics Institute and the Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency (DARPA). RHex provided the platform for Bossa Nova's
'Ani-Motion' robotic technology - a revolutionary lifelike robotic
mechanism loosely based on animalistic locomotion. With a vision to
bring personal robots to every home, Bossa Nova spent four years
further developing the RHex technology to make it affordable and
capable of age-appropriate, robot-human interactivity.

Underlining Bossa Nova's research and product development is the Japan
Robotics Association's forecast that the market for personal and
lifestyle robots will grow to $15 billion by 2015. According to United
States ABI Research, approximately 75% of the market is attributed to
entertainment robotics with the majority of sales driven by children's
robots.

"The technology behind Prime-8 and Penbo has only previously been seen
in multi-million dollar research projects," said Sarjoun Skaff, CEO,
Bossa Nova, Ph.D Robotics, CMU. "To make this kind of technology
available to children is unprecedented and what we've seen in all of
our focus groups is that both kids and adults are impressed by Penbo
and Prime-8's technology and lifelike movements."

Continued Skaff, "Children's robotics is just the start, in the future
we envisage creating Bossa Nova robots that will change the way we
work, play, learn and stay safe."

Not your primitive primate, Prime-8 mimics the way boys play. Prime-8's
intense interactivity is powered by a battery of sensors that allow him
to respond to people and his environment. Outbound sight and sound
sensors help Prime-8 maneuver around obstacles, respond to questions
with grunts and growls, and express himself. A fast-paced, powerful and
fun gorilla robot with a strong personality, his personality radically
transforms from a friendly, funny gorilla with warm blue eyes to a
‘Gone Bananas!' robot, beating the floor and roaring from the top of
his lungs, with circuits crackling and furious red eyes.

On the other end of the robot spectrum is Penbo, an adorable
interactive and waddling penguin robot who surprises little girls when
she lays an egg. When the egg is opened, out comes Bebe - a tiny baby
penguin that will chirp and communicate with its mother. Penbo is aware
of her surroundings, loves to dance, plays games and talks with Baby in
Penguish, her own language; she responds to touch with blinking eyes,
flapping wings, and cooing sounds and is a perfect robot companion for
little girls to nurture.

Prime-8 will be available to consumers for the first time on QVC on
July 25. Penbo will make her consumer debut on QVC in mid-August. Both
products will be available online on August 1st and on shelves at
retailers nationwide for the holiday season.

About Bossa Nova Robotics

Bossa Nova Robotics has been redefining the robotics industry since
2005. A spinoff from Carnegie Mellon University's Robotic Institute,
Bossa Nova creates enriching entertainment experiences by combining the
magic of agile robots with the power of play. Based in the nation's
robotics capital, Pittsburgh, PA, the Company designs and manufactures
personal robots for consumer use. Bossa Nova was created based on a
dream that kids everywhere would one day have an opportunity to
interact with a new generation of toy robots. Unlike anything on the
market, Bossa Nova's robots showcase a new relationship between
technology and toys. Kids love Bossa Nova's robots because they're
exciting and funny; parents love them because they have a
family-friendly play pattern. In the coming years, Bossa Nova will
apply its robotics expertise to security, health, education and home
care markets. For more information about Bossa Nova Robotics, please
visit www.bnconcepts.com.

Article Link

Robotics company unveils obnoxious gorilla, adorable penguin that combine science and 'cool'

2009-07-13T21:51:00.001-07:00

Combine cockroach mobility with high technology and the unlikely results are robot toys that mix science with "the cool factor."

Or at least that's the hope of Bossa Nova Robotics, a
Pittsburgh-based company and Carnegie Mellon University spin-off that's
combined high-tech with low cost to produce "Prime-8" and "Penbo."

Prime-8 is a cleverly obnoxious robotic gorilla that combines speed
and attitude, while Penbo is "an adorable penguin that's all about
interaction and nurturing," said David Palmer, Bossa Nova co-founder
and chief operating officer.

No toy robot ever moved as fast as Prime-8, Bossa Nova officials claim.

And each toy promises to entertain and educate children by
integrating toys with technology. Prime-8 in particular does show prime
potential to agitate parents, and what better formula for toy success?

"This is all about big dreams," said John Feghali, Bossa Nova
co-founder. "We wanted to create lifelike robots that act like they are
living creatures with animation and motion married together."

Bossa Nova unveiled the toys yesterday during a four-hour news event
at Carnegie Mellon. It will launch Prime-8 in August on the QVC
Shopping Network, with a similar launch of Penbo in September.

Prime-8 is a yellow gorilla-like creature that employs "innovative
biped technology." Translation: It rolls on its curved arms over
complex terrain, be it floor, rug, dirt, grass or gravel. It also can
stand, roll over, lean, boogie and stand on its head.

But that's not nearly the extent of it. Prime-8 also grunts, turns
happy, sniffs furniture, and just as quickly beats on the floor in rage
and "goes bananas" with blue eyes turning fiery red. It's angry bellow
is second only to King Kong's.

And Prime-8 also farts robustly. (There's even a fart button on the remote.)

Prime-8 can guard a room and protect its boss against siblings and
parents by firing rubber-tipped rockets. The robot toy is geared toward
boys as old as 12.

In all, Prime-8 performs 100 functions.

Despite employing the latest robotic technology, the toy carries a retail price of $99.99.

Penbo, cute, fuzzy and pink, is far more civilized and represents the rare example of a robot designed for girls.

The waddling penguin blinks big blue eyes and flaps tiny wings while
interacting readily with its owner. It can waddle some dance steps in
unison with other Penbos.

The plush penguin also purrs, speaks fluent "Penguish," and, unlike
Prime-8, shows no signs of aggression toward siblings or other humans.

Push Penbo's heart and pleasant reactions are unleashed. Girls will play with Penbo, but Bossa Nova prefers the term "nurture."

Penbo also lays an egg that hatches a "Bebe Penbo" that is a
surprise color of pink, blue, green or purple. Bebe and mom sing a duet
and interact with each other by playing peek-a-boo and hide-and-seek.
Mom even rocks the fuzzy little ball to sleep.

Penbo retails for $69.99, according to a company brochure, although there's an indication the cost may shoot up to $79.99.

The longer children play with Penbo and Prime-8, the more features
are released, so Bossa Nova claims boredom is less likely to set in.
Both robots play a number of games with children.

Bossa Nova, started four years ago by three Carnegie Mellon
graduates, developed the toys with technology licensed from the
university.

The company quotes a Japan Robotics Association forecast that the
market for personal and lifestyle robots will grow to $15 billion by
2015, with the United States ABI Research predicting that about 75
percent of that market will involve entertainment robotics, and most
notably children's robots.

Key to Bossa Nova's success was a study of how cockroaches cross
rough terrain quickly. The roach moves its legs, which hit the ground
and propel it forward without thought or sensory perception.

That same idea was used to create RHex, a robot with six curved
flaps serving as legs that rotate without sensors guiding foot
placement. RHex uses that method to cover almost any terrain, including
climbing steps.

Refining RHex technology, Bossa Nova created its toys powered by
alkaline batteries. They include infrared sensors but to interact with
people rather than for movement.

"The technology behind Prime-8 and Penbo previously has been seen in
multi-million dollar research projects," said Sarjoun Skaff, chief
technology officer for Bossa Nova. "To make this kind of technology
available to children is unprecedented, and what we've seen in all our
focus groups is that both kids and adults are impressed by Penbo and
Prime-8's technology and lifelike movements."

The Toy Industry Association Inc. could not be reached for comment on the robot toys and their potential in a tough toy market.

Bossa Nova, with offices in Pittsburgh and Hong Kong, missed the
release date this year to sell its toys through Wal-Mart, Target and
Toys R Us. But the toys will be available on Amazon.com, with plans to
have them available in department and toy stores next year.

Still, the company expects to sell 100,000 copies of each robot this
year, with early indications pointing toward success, said Martin
Hitch, Bossa Nova chief executive officer.

The company says this type of toy is the future. There's nothing
primitive about Prime-8, they claim, referring to the technology.

Article Link

Toy robot penguin purrs with delight

2009-07-13T20:58:00.001-07:00

Prime-8 runs on his arms, stops to sniff whatever's in his way and
even can shoot a plastic rocket at an annoying little sister. Penbo
purrs when she's petted, and plays games with the chirping baby penguin
that hatches from her tummy.

Robots are all the rage this summer as toys from the latest
"Transformers" and "Terminator" movies fill stores, and Carnegie Mellon
University spinoff Bossa Nova Robotics Inc. plans to start selling its
own two playthings with personalities in coming weeks on cable shopping
channel QVC and online retailer Amazon.com.

The yellow, gorilla-faced Prime-8 and chubby pink penguin Penbo
showed off their tricks, speed and agility Thursday at an event at the
Oakland campus.

They're the first toys developed with technology from CMU's Robotics
Institute to debut commercially, but others are in the design and
prototype stages.

For consumers, "The most successful application for robots so far is
in the toy business," said John Feghali, one of Bossa Nova's three
founders.

Inspired by Furby and other interactive toys, Prime-8 and Penbo use
mechanics adapted from a cockroach-like robot named RHex created
several years ago at CMU.

Both toys walk or run on two rotating limbs, Prime-8 on his arms and Penbo on her legs.

They don't trip on carpet as many toy robots do, their creators say.
And using sensors, they respond to their owners' moves, play games and
dance and fall asleep if they're ignored. Blow a kiss to Penbo, and
she'll kiss back.

Prime-8, geared for boys ages 8 to 12, goes on sale for $99.99 on
QVC on July 25. Penbo, for girls 4 to 6 and costing $69.99, will follow
with her first TV appearance in mid-August.

Amazon.com will feature both products starting Aug. 1, and they'll be in stores for the holidays.

Feghali along with Bossa Nova cofounders David Palmer and Sarjoun
Skaff tested their play robots with children at Carnegie Science Center
on the North Shore. The toys will continue to be used there as part of
the Robot Workshop at the science center's new Roboworld, billed as the
world's biggest permanent robotics exhibition.

Feghali, Palmer and Skaff met through CMU, shared a liking for bossa nova music and talked about starting a robotics business.

They decided to make entertaining and educational toys that would be
priced competitively after watching a group of toddlers giggle as RHex
chased them around a campus lawn.

The partners founded their company four years ago, secured money
from several sources including the Pittsburgh Technology Council's
annual EnterPrize contest, and brought in former Mattel, Hasbro and MGA
Entertainment executive Martin Hitch as CEO.

While toy robots undoubtedly are popular with kids, gauging sales isn't easy.

Electronics claimed $865 million of the toy industry's total $21.6
billion in sales last year, but interactive technology is showing up in
lots of classic playthings ranging from dolls to board games. The Japan
Robotics Association forecasts that the market for personal and
lifestyle robots will grow to $15 billion by 2015.

For kids, "Robotic toys are emulating what is happening in everyday
life," said Adrienne Citrin, spokeswoman for the New York-based Toy
Industry Association. Hasbro's iDog works with an iPod, for example.

As to truly interactive toys, industry expert Len Simonian said
advances in technology have cut production costs and made robot
playthings available to more children.

"They're no longer cost-prohibitive. You could make a great toy 10
years ago," he said, but if it retailed for $500 a manufacturer
wouldn't sell many.

Most of the 500 researchers at CMU's Robotics Institute work on
building robots for a variety of tasks including farming, aiding in
surgery and exploring underground mines.

But the center has spawned a few other startup companies that could follow Bossa Nova's path.

Modular Robotics LLC is working on a robotics construction kit
that's something like Lego Mindstorms, but unique because every piece
has a computer inside, research director Mark Gross said.

The company is testing software that includes social networking —
kids will be able to share their creations over the Internet, he said.
The product could be introduced late next year.

And Interbots LLC, creator of the animatronic Quasi robot used at
fairs, is working on software for its first interactive toy and has
completed a second prototype and talked with manufacturers, CEO Seema
Patel said.

"Our goal is to have the little guy on the shelves in time for the Christmas 2010 season," she said.

Article Link

MyDeskFriend robot penguin links to Facebook

2009-07-05T14:02:00.001-07:00

Upstart Arimaz of Switzerland, [] is now busy showing off its MyDeskFriend "Facebook companion" that's set for release this September. The bot is able to mosey about your desk without falling off and react to your voice like any good robot, but its real secret is that it can connect to Facebook and read your messages, or even be controlled (some may say tormented) by your real Facebook friends. Look for it to run $99 when it's released.

Article Link (Engadget)

Pleo is back and we want to give you one

2009-06-30T10:02:00.001-07:00

Pleo is back, thanks to electronics and entertainment leader Senario, and we want to give you one.

The $349 artificial dinosaur hit the news this April when Ugobe, its creator, filed for bankruptcy. However, it is thankfully still available from web outlets such as Amazon, Target, Best Buy and BotaBingBotaBoom. In July, it will also be sold on QVC Live, followed by the Sharper Image’s Online Store.

Article Link

WowWee FlyTech Skyhopper: More Mothra than a Star Wars Airspeeder

2009-06-29T08:19:00.001-07:00

Digging around on the FCC site can uncover some truly weird things.
Exhibit A this morning: WowWee's FlyTech Skyhopper (no, not that Skyhopper).
The remote-controlled 'hybrid insect' toy has the same flapping wing design as company's FlyTech Dragonfly, which we last saw waging war with cats and being snatched by Hawks.
The manual claims you'll be able to "back out of corners, jump over
obstacles, and make a running takeoff from the smallest spaces."

Article Link

Is Execution More Important than Vision?

2009-06-27T06:47:00.001-07:00

With all the hyperbole about Twitter today, if I asked you whether the executor or the visionary would wind up being more successful, nearly everyone would say the visionary. But—as Levchin no doubt knew when he made this point—the visionary is usually the one that gets the shaft in Silicon Valley.

Napster changed the music world, but it was iTunes that profited off of it. Google was one of the last companies in the Internet bubble to try their hand at building a search engine—and was laughed out of some VCs’ offices as a result. Palm pioneered the smart phone, not Blackberry. And Friendster was the social network pioneer before Mark Zuckerberg even entered college.

Article Link (Tech Crunch)

Shortage in US tech graduates

2009-06-27T06:44:00.001-07:00

According to a new study released today by the Bay Area Council, the Campaign for College Opportunity and IHELP, some 40,000 new jobs are created every year in California that need people with degrees in science, technology, math or engineering. To meet that need the state would have to see a 90% upswing in these types of degrees. The study hints at a “devastating” impact the current shortfall of techy grads could have on the state’s $1.7 trillion economy if more people don’t go into these fields.

Article Link (TechCrunch)

Microtransactions to Fuel Virtual World Growth

2009-06-20T04:42:00.001-07:00

The key drivers [of revenue growth] will be microtransactions, subscriptions, and advertising/sponsorships, with microtransactions expected to grow from slightly over $1 billion in 2008 to $17.3 billion in 2015. Microtransactions will account for approximately 86 percent of all revenue generated by virtual worlds.

Here's how the company sees growth over the next six years:

                        2009       2015
Adult:               11.5        32.5
Tween/Teen     125        395.6
Kids                  50           209.9
Total                186.5       638

Cumulative Unique Virtual World Registrants, projected, in millions, worldwide.

Overall, Strategy Analytics said it sees the global population of virtual world users growing from 186 million today to almost 640 million by 2015 -- that's almost one hundred million new players a year, a nearly 25 percent compounded annual growth rate. The fastest growing demographic is kids between the ages of 5 and 9 which the company predicts will grow 27 percent; the current largest segment of virtual worlds players, tweens and teens, should grow by some 21 percent, according to the company.

Overall, as virtual worlds continue to improve the user experience, Strategy Analytics see a conversion rate from registrations to active users at a growth rate of 38 percent through 2015.

Article Link (Virtual Worlds News)

Charging for media online

2009-06-20T04:38:00.001-07:00

Wired editor-in chief-Chris Anderson kicked off his magazine’s Disruptive By Design
conference today in New York City with a speech about how the Internet
makes everything free, which is the topic of his latest book, Free: The Future of A Radical Price He articulated something that is now increasingly becoming obvious: As products go digital, their marginal cost goes to zero.

“This is the law of gravity online,” says Anderson.
“Everything that becomes digital will become free. There will be
a free version, either you will be competing with free or giving it
away for free and selling something else. If it is not zero today, it
will be zero tomorrow.”

When he addressed how this is affecting media and whether or not
traditional media organizations should charge for their content online,
he draws a number of conclusions from what the Wall Street Journal
is doing. The tension is not so much free versus paid, but free versus
freemium. In one slide, Anderson comes up with the following rules for
media companies trying to figure out how to make money online:

The best model is a mix of free and paid
You can’t charge for an exclusive that will be repeated elsewhere,
Don’t charge for the most popular content on your site,
Content behind a pay wall should appeal to niches, the narrower the niche the better

This is somewhat counterintuitive because it means media sites that
want to charge for content should charge for their niche stuff instead
of their most popular content. But that is exactly the right way to
look at it if you want to maximize your advertising revenues. Let the
popular content be paid for by advertising, and the niche, exclusive
content can be sold to fewer people at a higher price. Anderson, whose
last book was the Long Tail, predicts in media: “The head of the
curve will be free and the tail of the curve will be paid.”
Article Link (TechCrunch)

Buzz Lightyear Robot

2009-06-20T01:41:00.001-07:00

The new Buzz Lightyear
robot is selling this Fall for $130-$150, and it proves
that robot toys still have a bit to go before they're really awesome.

There's some cool stuff to this toy, to be sure. It has original Tim
Allen voice work, which is nice, and it's obviously of solid
construction. But it seems like its uses are pretty limited. Once your
kid has said the dozen voice commands and has heard the quips and seen
the motions, there's not a lot to keep them coming back. Sure, there's
puppeteer mode that allows them to make their own sequence of motions,
but it just doesn't scream "play with me."

Article Link (Gizmodo)

Table-top robot

2009-06-19T23:44:00.001-07:00

The mechanics are real but the video is staged.

Article Link (Gizmodo)

Dyson Robot?

2009-06-13T15:14:00.001-07:00

Article Link (Crunch Gear)

Why Pleo Went Extinct

2009-06-10T14:44:00.001-07:00

After yesterday’s news that Pleo may get resurrected
to some extent, it might be worth having a look back at just what
happened to Ugobe. As shockingly entertaining as it might have been,
Pleos weren’t systematically destroyed by Combots…
Rather, it was a more banal combination of factors. Ugobe’s chief
technology officer, John Sosoka, gave a lecture at Stanford a few weeks
ago entitled “The Rise and Fall of a Companion Robot: Lessons Learned from Pleo.” You can watch it in its entirety here.

The talk is 40 minutes long followed by questions, but here’s the
nutshell… Firstly, the economic collapse was obviously the main
problem. Pleo is a luxury item, and an expensive one at that. But
that’s the other part of it: nobody, Ugobe included, was really sure
what they had with Pleo. It was kind of a toy, kind of a pet, and kind
of a robot. Any way they tried to spin it, it was hard to market,
especially for the amount that it cost.

Speaking of, Pleo is still available on Amazon, and the price has dropped to about $150.
That’s only $10 more than Pleo actually costs to manufacture (the
wholesale price was $195), according to Sosoka, so it’s a pretty good
deal.

Article link

Giant Mecha

2009-06-10T14:02:00.001-07:00

This 18-foot-tall, one-ton prototype is [Carlos Owens's] second stab at the project, the first being made of wood. This version was started in 2004, and it's made of steel with a system of cables and hydraulics inside to make it work.
Currently, it can raise its arms, bend its knees and apparently do situps, but it's not quite where he wants it to be. He's working on two more prototypes to make it lighter and more maneuverable.

Article Link (Gizmodo)

ReconRobotics Awarded $1.35 Million Contract By The U.S. Army

2009-06-10T13:50:00.001-07:00

Minnesota based robotics developer to supply U.S. Army with 150 Recon Scout miniature reconnaissance robots.
ReconRobotics, Inc. announced that it has been awarded a contract by
the U.S. Army for 150 of its Recon Scout® IR miniature reconnaissance
robots. ReconRobotics will begin making deliveries on the $1,350,000
contract in May 2009. All of these Recon Scout IR robots will be
manufactured in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Femisapien/EMA: A Great Robot Concept Still Waiting For Success

2009-06-10T13:44:00.001-07:00

Every robot designer loves their own creations, at least at the
beginning, and they often find it difficult to understand why other
people aren’t as enraptured with the beauty and wonder of the robot
they gave birth to. Still, at the end of the day the bottom line is to
create products that customers relate to enough that they feel
compelled to open their wallets and give us their hard earned cash or
plastic.

If we’re really lucky, and really creative, then we can repeat the
process over and over again, using the profits from this product
generation to build the next one. And, our customers will be so
delighted with our products that they will automatically come back to
buy more and more.
That being said, good robots, sometimes really excellent robots,
sometimes fail to take off and become best sellers. An example is “EMA”
(Eternal Maiden Actualization). EMA was originally developed by WowWee
as the first female addition to their extremely popular Robosapien
robot series, and sold in the US and Europe as the “Femisapien”.

Sega Toys did an OEM deal to import, repackage, and market the
Femisapien under their own label and renamed the robot “EMA”. The
world-wide press coverage at the time frequently mis-stated that EMA
was a new Japanese creation, playing off the “robot-crazy Japanese”
stereotype.

Femisapien/EMA incorporated a unique human/robot interface with the
user controlling the robot by physically touching (caressing?)
different parts of the robots body. Tilt EMA’s head and press down,
then EMA would break into song and perform a short demo dance routine.
Lift her arm, and move her hand somewhat like a joy stick, and EMA
would follow you around. The robot also included a number of sensors to
enhance the interaction and play value.
As innovative and advanced as EMA’s user interface was, it still wasn’t
intuitive for the usual customer. People found it difficult to wrap
their heads around the user interface, primarily we believe because it
was so innovative and non-standard. Had they been willing to invest the
time and effort to get proficient with the interface, then EMA had a
lot to offer. Unfortunately most customers aren’t willing to spend
hours or days trying to figure out a new toy, no matter how great the
technology or interface might be.
Hoping to open the world of robotics to a virtually untapped market,
WowWee’s original target audience was young girls, and hoped that the
Femisapien would instantly bond with them. Trying to avoid the
traditional RC type remote control concepts, WowWee replaced them with
the touchy/feely approach that turned out to be even harder for
customers to understand and adopt.

Bringing the robot to the Japanese market, Sega Toys appears to have
retargeted it towards young male robot ‘otaku’ who would couldn’t live
with out their own personal robot ‘maiden’. And, they priced the
product at almost double the US price, too expensive for the casual
customer just looking for a cheap robot toy, and too few features for
customers looking for fully functional humanoid robotics. Neither fish
nor fowl, and with a difficult to grok user interface, EMA is gathering
dust on store shelves here inspite of considerable price discounting by
retailers trying to clear out slow or non-moving inventory.

It’s really a shame. We like Femisapien/EMA a lot. Our Femisapien
(US version) occupies a prime spot in our living room and is frequently
the center of attraction at our parties and social gatherings. We even
slip it into our backpack to show off at meetings or training sessions.

Hopefully WowWee, Sega Toys, and other robot toy manufacturers will
learn from the Femisapien/EMA experience, and will improve on the
robot’s groundbreaking approach. Many of the robot’s concepts should be
adopted and integrated into follow-on, or next generation, products.
Article Link

Pleo To Get Resurrected By Manufacturer

2009-06-09T15:29:00.001-07:00

The new owners of Ugobe’s intellectual property, a company called Jetta, have pledged to resume production of the Pleo: “The
company is firmly committed to re-launching Pleo and continuing the
line including accessories such as the vital battery and charger
components.” This is a pretty easy thing for Jetta to do, since
they’re the ones who were manufacturing Pleo for Ugobe in the first
place… They’ve got all the necessary infrastructure, and now that they
own the IP, I guess they’ll just fire up the machines again and start
cranking ‘em out.
Don’t get me wrong, this is certainly good news, I was just vaguely
hoping that someone would buy the Ugobe IP and use it to make Pleo 2.0.
Instead, Pleo belongs to a manufacturer, as opposed to a developer.
We’ll just have to wait and see what comes of it, as there’s no
information yet on a timeframe.
Article Link

Pittsburgh’s Technology Collaborative funds nine companies $1.5 M

2009-06-08T10:43:00.001-07:00

The Technology Collaborative,
the Pittsburgh-based economic development organization that supports
the growth of world-class robotics, cyber-security and digital
technology, has awarded $1.5 million to nine companies and one Carnegie
Mellon University project.

Eight are Pittsburgh-based and two
are Philadelphia-based companies. All the projects are underway and
will be completed by 2010.

“We received a record number of
proposals which is indicative of the funding challenges faced by early
stage companies across the country,” says David Ruppersberger,
president and CEO of TTC. “The good news is that this particular group
of awardees looks very promising in terms of their potential commercial
success and economic impact on the region.”

Article Link

Volleyball-playing robot has Mac mini brain

2009-05-30T13:18:00.001-07:00

Of course, "volleyball-playing" is still a bit of a stretch. The bot is
actually designed to be more of a training aid, with it making use of a
range of sensors, built-in GPS, a compass, and an iSight camera (all
linked to a Mac mini) to track down balls and set them up for spiking
drills.
Article Link (Engadget)

Trilobot Endearing Robot

2009-05-30T13:15:00.000-07:00

This is art. Designed by Dan Roe as a "kinetic art" project.

Article Link (Gizmodo)

Thingamajig - Six Solar Powered Toys in One

2009-05-29T23:18:00.001-07:00

Article Link (Gizmodo)

Robotopusu

2009-05-29T23:17:00.001-07:00

Developed by Tadano, with a three-chip CCD camera, two huge arms and
four legs with joints totalling 29 degrees of freedom, the 2.7-ton, 6.9
x 12.6 x 6.9-feet (2.1 x 3.84 x 2.1-meter) Robotopusu is clearly designed to locate and destroy humans. Each of its arms can lift 220 pounds (100 kilograms.)

Article Link (Gizmodo)

WowWee Robot Gaming

2009-05-29T23:15:00.001-07:00

"All of us are gamers, we all play video games all of the time," said Davin Sufer, chief technology officer of WowWee.

"We have some products inspired by fast-moving vehicles (that we are
working on)," he said. "Grand Theft Auto-style, fast moving vehicles
that will interact with each other.

"WowWee hoped to introduce a robot that used augmented reality to turn
everyday spaces into a video game like world, but they backed away from
the notion because they thought it might be too complex for the average
consumer to understand and enjoy.

"Initially the idea behind [Rovio] was more for gaming
applications," Sufer said. "You play a game through a robot, by driving
it around."

The idea was that you would place markers in a room in your house and
then drive the robot around, controlling and watching it through a web
browser, he said. When the robot saw and recognized those markers the
software would replace the markers with gaming icons.

WowWee hasn't dropped the idea though, they hope to either release the
software to support augmented reality with Rovio or perhaps release a
new version of the three-wheeled bot with the game built into it.

"I think that video games are getting more and more immersive and more
and more interesting," Sufer said. "But there is always room for
physical games and video games sometimes drive that need for real life
objects."

Article Link (Kotaku)

Freemium: Online Economic Model

2009-05-23T23:02:00.001-07:00

The freemium model is hardly a new idea. VC Fred Wilson has been
talking about it since 2006. The idea that you have a core set of features that are free to all
users, and charge a fee to the smaller subset of users who will want
more advanced features, makes a lot of sense.
But I think for the freemium model to work in today’s
environment, it has be along the lines of the opening paragraph of
Wilson’s post in 2006:

Give your service away for free, possibly ad supported
but maybe not, acquire a lot of customers very efficiently through word
of mouth, referral networks, organic search marketing, etc, then offer
premium priced value added services or an enhanced version of your
service to your customer base.

Rather than launching a service with a freemium model, I think
it’s important to gain a large and passionate user-base first.

One of the keys to this in my mind is the yearly fee. While it might
look nice to offer a service for $3-a-month, that recurring charge is
ugly. I’d much rather pay a still low $36-a-year and not have to
worry about it after that.

The freemium model doesn’t always work. But [...] getting the users
is they key to this. If you can get a ton of them, and get a certain
percentage to be very loyal, they’re more than likely going to be
willing to pay.

Article Link (TechCrunch)

iRobot's LANDroids

2009-05-20T03:50:00.000-07:00
The Embers, which are around the size of a paperback book, are said to weigh less than a pound and are also equipped with built-in cameras and side flippers to help them vault over any obstacles they might encounter in the field. As part of DARPA's LANDroids program, iRobot was given three years and $2.5 million to develop the Embers. Currently in their first year, iRobot is looking to make the Ember easy to use and cheap, so that they could be left behind on the battlefield if needed.

Article Link (Gizmodo)

Robot powered by iPod Touch

2009-05-17T21:24:00.001-07:00

Article Link (Gizmodo)

Robot Asks for Directions

2009-05-17T21:22:00.001-07:00

The Tweenbots project already demonstrated that at least some folks are willing to
help a lost robot find its way, but this new ACE bot developed by
researchers at the Technical University of Munich has now ramped things
up in a fairly big way, with it actually asking passers-by for
directions and developing a map as it moves through the city.
Apparently, the robot uses a series of cameras to detect people nearby,
and it then asks them to simply point towards the destination indicated
on its screen, which it is able to recognize, although it does also
asks them to confirm the direction on the screen just to be safe. In
initial tests, that appears to have been relatively successful, with
ACE (or Autonomous City Explorer) able to reach its destination 1.5
kilometers away in five hours after relying on directions from 38
people.
Article Link (Engadget)

RiSE V3

2009-05-14T12:42:00.000-07:00

RiSE V3 uses brushless DC motors that increase power density. Coupled with a dramatically different leg mechanism and unique gaited behavior, this robot exhibits rapid climbing (upwards of 22 cm/s) up a vertical surface such as a telephone pole.

Link (Kodlab)

Roomba's Path

2009-05-09T08:38:00.001-07:00

Article Link (Gizmodo)

Menacing Underwatrer Robot

2009-05-07T07:18:00.001-07:00
German researchers have designed an underwater robot with a sense of touch thanks to micro-sensors printed directly onto the robot's body that are about half the width of a human hair.

Article Link (Gizmodo)

Keep It Simple, Stupid

2009-04-28T03:26:00.000-07:00
On the face of it, it makes sense to give users a lot of options when it comes to features, and let them decide what to use and what not to use. But decisions can be a burden. And further, users are often bad decision makers. It may be blasphemy to say that users want to be told what to do, but at the very least, they want to be lead in a direction.

Article Link (TechCrunch)

Pleo creator Ugobe files for bankruptcy

2009-04-27T20:56:00.001-07:00

The first real casualty of the economic crisis has emerged,
and it’s a lovable robotic dinosaur. Decreased demand for
expensive toys has left Pleo’s creator, Ugobe, wallowing in debt.
As a last ditch effort to remain solvent, they’re going to try to
auction off the rights to Pleo, but there’s no guarantee that the
poor critter will ever be made again.
Pleo has always been a favorite over here at CrunchGear, so we put together a little goodbye tribute video in case the adorable robosaurus is indeed extinct.

It actually seems likely that the rights to make Pleo (and the machinery owned over in China) will be
snapped up, but if one of the big toymakers does so, they’re
under no pressure to continue production. They might wait for the world
economy to recover, but they also might just shelve it, knowing
they’ve spoiled any competitors’ hopes of capitalizing on
Pleo.

Whatever the case, it’s a sad day indeed.
Article Link

Ugobe Folds

2009-04-21T10:19:00.001-07:00

The company has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy—the kind of bankruptcy that's most like a tremendous meteor—and fired all of its workers. This is sad news for Pleo fans and horrible news for the now-ex-employees, but one part of the report was surprising: Over 100,000 Pleos, which retail at $350, were sold in the last year alone.

Article Link (Gizmodo)

Roomba co-Inventors Shift Focus to Cleaning Up Commercial Growing

2009-04-05T00:18:00.001-07:00

Joe Jones, co-inventor of the Roomba vacuum cleaning robot while
he was at iRobot, talks with Robotics Trends about his new effort:
using robots to automate the labor-intensive task of shifting, placing
and managing thousands of plants for commercial Decorative plant
growers

Article Link

Ugobe lawsuit

2009-04-04T19:07:00.000-07:00
[A] half-million lawsuit [was] just filed that alleges Pleo and Co. are in breach of contract for failure to pay supplier Arrow Electronics.

The company's website was seemingly gone and no one was answering the phones, but it's apparently not all bad: the site's back up, and CEO Caleb Chung told the Idaho Business Review today that the company will respond in an "organized way" with a press release coming in the "next few weeks."

Article Link (Engadget)

Robots for Elderly in Japan

2009-03-26T00:17:00.000-07:00
The Japanese government is planning to put robots to practical use in Japanese households in as soon as five years, and has already begun formulating the political agencies needed to oversee robot safety standards.
According to a government panel on Wednesday, the robots are needed to provide day-care and nursing services to Japan's rapidly aging population. Since over 41 billion of the projected 62 billion dollar robot market is supposed to be dedicated to care, it's important to start thinking of the regulations that need to be put in place.

Article Link (Gizmodo)

On Design

2009-03-23T20:04:00.000-07:00

Google's Visual Design Leader Douglas Bowman bailed last week. He left, he reveals, because Google's fundamentally run by engineers. Engineers who do thing like focus test 41 shades of blue to decide the best one.
When a company is filled with engineers, it turns to engineering to solve problems. Reduce each decision to a simple logic problem. Remove all subjectivity and just look at the data...And that data eventually becomes a crutch for every decision, paralyzing the company and preventing it from making any daring design decisions.
The obvious compare and contrast is to Apple, and the way they developed the iPod—or really, any other product. It didn't emerge fully formed from the singular vision in Steve Jobs' brain, but headstrong design is at the forefront of the creation of every product, which is why Apple often leads the industry in product design.

Article Link (Gizmodo)

iPhone Virtual Worlds

2009-03-22T19:28:00.000-07:00

The viral potential for a mobile virtual world optimized for the Apple ecosystem could be as big as the potential for continuous monetization: sales of avatar accessories, virtual apartments (utilizing iPhone 3.0’s new subscription option), sales of in-game items, music downloads, branded spaces and conventional ads come to mind.

Tokyo-based start-up called Genkii is building a unique app that has the potential to not only let a few iPhone users connect with each other, but thousands of them - at the same time or asynchronously. Sparkle is poised to become the first virtual world for the iPhone. What’s more, it’s being developed completely from scratch, exclusively as an MMO for the iPhone/iPod Touch.

Genkii says users will get a full-fledged virtual world in 3D (the company has a track record in virtual worlds development). Sparkle 3D will have its own economy, customizable personal spaces and avatars, social networking functions, virtual goods, games, streaming audio support, etc.

Currently, Genkii is completely self-funded and has been bootstrapping for over a year. The company is now actively seeking angel investment to accelerate development of Sparkle 3D.

Article Link (Tech Crunch)

JAKKS Pacific nabs Walmart's Vendor of the Year

2009-03-21T10:29:00.000-07:00

The little known JAKKS Pacific just got a lot more popular after receiving Walmart's Vendor of the Year award for 2008, marking the second time in the company's history that said award was received.

Article Link (Engadget)

Camera and Paper Based Holograms

2009-03-21T08:21:00.000-07:00
Amazing pseudo-hologram tech.

Article Link (TechCrunch)

Wicked Wii Nerf N-Strike Concept Weapons

2009-03-19T21:50:00.001-07:00

Article

Whegs

2009-03-17T10:38:00.001-07:00

Whegs (specifically Whegs II) is modeled on a cockroach, with legs, antennae, and a segmented body.
Besides the segmented body that can lift up to climb over obstacles, Whegs uses an adaptive tripod gait that lets it run along at a brisk 5.5 km/hr, but if it hits an obstacle, the front legs sync up to help it climb over. Whegs can be teleoperated, but also has autonomous capability. The AI is quite simple and relies on basic insect-like behaviors and sensors"
After analyzing how a cockroach positions its antennae when deciding to climb over or tunnel under a shelf-like obstacle, mechanical antennae were designed and fitted to Whegs™ II. The mechanical antennae swept up and down, each at a different rate, as the robot moved through its environment. When a shelf was encountered, the position of the antennae of the obstacle helped Whegs™ II autonomously decide whether to climb or tunnel. Like the cockroach, when both mechanical antennae touched the bottom of the shelf, the robot tunneled. And when both touched the top of the shelf, a climbing behavior was initiated. When one antenna touched the top while the other touched the bottom, Whegs™ II tunneled, just like the insect in a bright environment.
The only problem with the antennae is the range, so Whegs II was upgraded with some ultrasonic sensors that mimic eyes by mimicking ears. By using a single ultrasonic emitter and a pair of receivers, Whegs can determine the direction and distance to nearby objects in the same way that your brain interpolates where a sound is coming from by comparing when each ear hears it. Interestingly, these simple behaviors were used to augment the control of a teleoperator, automatically adjusting control inputs to avoid potential collisions. It’s simple hardware and simple behaviors, and it seems like it could make robot teleoperation significantly easier, if or when it makes it into the commercial (or military) sector.
Article Link (BotJunkie)

Camera/Projector Interact with the World

2009-03-10T23:17:00.000-07:00

Article Link (Gizmodo)

Webcam Brings 3-D to Sports Cards

2009-03-09T04:31:00.000-07:00
Collectors who hold a special Topps 3D Live baseball card in front of a webcam will see a three-dimensional avatar of the player on the computer screen. Rotate the card, and the figure rotates in full perspective. It’s called “augmented reality,” a combination of a real image with a virtual one.

Article Link (NYT)

Lego sales up 18.7%, profits up 31.5% in 2008

2009-02-23T20:15:00.001-08:00

Ventes en hausse de près de 20%, bénéfices en nette progression et prévisions optimistes pour 2009 : «Nous ne nous attendions pas à une telle croissance des ventes», avoue ce lundi le directeur du groupe, Joergen Vig Knudstorp. Pour l'exercice écoulé, le bénéfice net a bondi de 31,5% à 1,35 milliard de couronnes danoises (181 millions d'euros) contre 1,02 milliard en 2007, sur un chiffre d'affaires de 9,52 milliards, en hausse de 18,7% sur un an, selon un communiqué.

Lego n'a jamais été aussi solide. Avec 22 milliards de petites briques en plastique produites chaque année, le groupe danois de jouets (premier fabricant européen et sixième mondial) a enregistré en 2008 l’un des meilleurs résultats de son histoire en dépit de la crise internationale.

Article Link (Libération)

Children Get Cellphones at Age 8

2009-02-23T20:11:00.001-08:00
According to a recent study by the charity Personal Finance
Education Group, the average child gets a cellphone when they're
8-years-old.

To look at the stat differently, 35% of 8-year-olds have a mobile phon.

Article Link (Gizmodo)

Tween Virtual World Status Q1 2009

2009-02-20T22:56:00.001-08:00

U.S. TOY INDUSTRY SALES GENERATE $21.64 BILLION IN 2008

2009-02-20T02:25:00.001-08:00

According to leading market research
company, The NPD Group, U.S. retail sales of toys generated $21.64
billion in 2008 compared to $22.32 billion in 2007*, a decline of 3
percent. With a loss of 5 percent, the fourth quarter of 2008 (Oct. -
Dec.) showed the most significant decline in sales for the year.
Despite slowing sales, particularly during the turbulent economy
that plagued the fourth quarter of 2008, recent research from NPD**
shows spending on toys captured the largest share of total expenditures
on kids ages 0-14 during the five weeks leading up to Christmas.
Apparel & accessories, video game hardware, and video/PC game
software followed toys in terms of dollar sales ranking.
Top properties for the year (based on total dollar sales) included
Barbie, Crayola, Star Wars, Transformers, and Webkinz. Licensed toys
represented 27 percent of total industry sales in 2008, mirroring
2007's 27 percent. Star Wars and Disney Princess topped the list of
2008's best-selling licensed properties.
Article Link

Tween Trends

2009-02-19T08:09:00.001-08:00

The Basics. A quick refresher course in the demo reminded
us that an 8 year old and a 12 year old are developmentally
(physically, emotionally, cognitively) worlds apart. This translates to
a difference in the way they care for their appearance (fun colors,
yummy smells vs. spa-type products for girls), relate to their parents
(temper tantrums vs. door slamming) and most relevant to this
conference play (starting card collections/Webkinz-type online activity
vs. strategy games/social sites like MySpace and Facebook) and
entertain themselves (superhero-based fantasy vs. real-world-hero-based
fantasy).
Tween Trends. Recent studies show an increasingly strong
bond between parents and their tweens (the rise of co-viewing
televisions shows), kid activism (wanting to make the world a better
place) and a less encouraging upswing in anxiety at a younger age with
11-12s worrying about doing well in school, going on their first date,
etc. Not surprisingly, girls especially struggle with self-esteem).
Article Link

LEGO Mindstorms NXT 2.0 Gets Color Recognizing Camera

2009-02-19T04:47:00.001-08:00

Pocket Lint has been checking out the 2009 Toy Fair in NYC, and
they’ve spotted some of LEGO’s new Mindstorms NXT kits. The 2.0 version
has a new sensor that can differentiate between colors, it can store
and display images on its LCD, and it can also play back sounds. The
kit will cost about $280 when it becomes available later this year…
Watch some of the new models shoot stuff and try to bite you, after the
jump.
Article link

Swordfish Motorcycle Concept Imagines Our Hubless Wheeled Future

2009-02-18T10:50:00.001-08:00

Article Link

http://i.gizmodo.com/5155497/chinese-transparent-city-plan-leaves-little-room-for-privacy

2009-02-18T10:49:00.001-08:00

Article Link

Hexbug Robot Ants Can Outrace Real Cockroaches

2009-02-17T00:23:00.001-08:00

Article Link

Robotland Theme Park To Open In South Korea

2009-02-16T08:17:00.001-08:00

Article Link

Disney Sets World of Cars for Summer 2009

2009-02-14T06:10:00.001-08:00

Disney announced that it would launch World of Cars Online this summer. The world was first announced as in development in November 2007, and Disney began previewing World of Cars with an avatar creator and Test Track a year later. With codes already available in Mattel toys for extra virtual items and a bonus track, Disney is already pushing for World of Cars to be a hit revenue stream at retail. Once the world launches, Disney says players will be able to race on tracks and earn their way to the big leagues, explore a wide world of environments, build their own garages, cars, and tracks, and more.

Disney Pixar World Of Cars Online Trailer

DFC: Club Penguin Earned $50-$150 million in 2008

2009-02-13T14:46:00.001-08:00

Club
Penguin earned $50 million to $150 million in 2008 according to
estimates by DFC Intelligence. The full study on MMOs and virtual
worlds will come out next month, but the analysts shared the top-earning titles with GigaOM ahead of time.

The top earner is World of Warcraft with an estimated revenue of over $500 million, but the more casual title, Maple Story, isn't far behind at number 3 with an estimated $150-$500 million.
Club
Penguin checks in at number 7, ahead of hardcore adult titles like Age
of Conan, Warhammer Online, and Lord of the Rings Online. Considering
that it's the title with the youngest audience and by far the most open
ended, it's a very respectable showing.
Club Penguin makes
money from products other than its virtual world, including standalone
video games and toys, but it's not clear whether that revenue is taken
into account here. If not and it's based only on the virtual world's
subscriptions which range
from about $5-$6, that would put Club Penguin's subscriber base
somewhere between 8.3 million users and 30 million users, which
range from $57.95/year to $71.40/year, that would put its subscriber
base at somewhere between 700,000 (which is where the service was
reportedly at around the time it was acquired by Disney in Summer 2007) and 2.58 million users.

Article Link

Mattel Q4 2008 Earnings: BarbieGirls MP3 Player Drove Decline

2009-02-13T10:56:00.001-08:00

Worldwide Mattel Boys and Girls brand sales
decreased by 2% and U.S. sales dropped by 1%. Barbie in particular, saw
a 9% decline in worldwide sales with a 7% drop in the U.S. According to
CFO Kevin Farr, one of the "primary drivers of the global decline," and
the first one listed in yesterday's Q4 2008 earnings call, was the MP3
player that launched alongside the BarbieGirls.com world.

The MP3 player initially offered access to exclusive content in the virtual world, but was eventually replaced by a subscription model in April when executives found that girls were more interested in the digital content than the consumer electronics device.
irtual worlds are being pitched by some, like Build-a-Bear, as value
adds that extend the life of a toy, but the toys still have to be sold
first.
Mattel, at least, seems to be looking for some bounce back
in 2009. It's not clear how much of that will tie in to
BarbieGirls.com, but it seems likely we'll see at least a few
connections to Barbie's 50th Anniversary.
"We have some exciting
plans for Barbie in her 50th. And although it wasn't a great year for
the doll category in general - I think the doll business was impacted
to some degree by maybe the Wii system or Webkinz - the fact is we have
some relatively good news on Barbie," said Bob Eckert, Chairman and
Chief Executive Officer

Article Link

Robot Land theme park finally breaking ground in South Korea

2009-02-13T09:40:00.001-08:00

Or, at least we hope it is. If you'll recall, we heard way back
in August of 2007 that South Korea was set to begin construction on a
robot-themed park. Here we are in 2009, and we're basically getting the
same story all over again. Reportedly, the nation's Ministry of
Knowledge Economy is expecting to get going on Robot Land this year, as
the government has set aside $559 million for construction in Incheon.
We're also told that actual plans for that second park
have yet to materialize, making us wonder even more if this whole thing
isn't slipping to vaporware status. At any rate, the parks would sure
be good for the local economy (assuming anyone has the money to go),
but we're at the point of recommending that you not hold your breath on
seeing this up by the promised open date of year-end 2013.

Article Link

Bossa Nova интригует публику экстравагантными роботами

2009-02-11T22:15:00.001-08:00

На ярмарке игрушек в Лондоне (Toy Fair),
где Bossa Nova и устроила премьеры, Prime-8 показывал скорость на
бегущей дорожке. Вряд ли она входит в комплект (фото с сайта
pocket-lint.co.uk).

A gorilla-based robot has been voted one of the best new products of 2009 by the Toy Fair trade event.

2009-02-06T21:41:00.001-08:00

A gorilla-based robot has been voted one of the best new products of 2009 by the Toy Fair trade event.
Created
by a Lebanese entrepreneur with a PhD in robotics, the Prime-8 robot
uses motion sensors to throw coconut missiles and has a bloodcurdling
growl that would ward predators, or snooping people, away.
Dr
Sarjoun Skaff spent seven years developing the state-of-the-art robot
technology, and his Pittsburg-based company, Bossa Nova Concepts, is
now ready to launch the Prime-8 and its penguin-based sister robot Penbo

Article Link

Citroen DS3 Inside Concept

2009-02-05T12:52:00.001-08:00

Article Link

Disney Online Revenues - Q4

2009-02-05T10:28:00.001-08:00

Interactive Media revenues increased 47%, or $229 million, to
$719 million primarily due to increases of $160 million at Disney
Interactive Studios and $71 million at Disney Online.

The increase at Disney Interactive Studios was primarily due to the
performance of new High School Musical, Hannah Montana and Turok
self-published video games in fiscal 2008 compared to Pirates of the
Caribbean, Spectrobes and Meet the Robinsons games in fiscal 2007. The
increase at Disney Online reflected higher virtual world subscription
revenue due to a full period of Club Penguin, which was acquired in the
fourth quarter of fiscal 2007.

Costs and expenses, which consist primarily of video game and
internet content development costs, product costs, distribution and
marketing expenses, general and administrative costs, and technology
infrastructure costs, increased 25%, or $193 million, to $974 million
driven by increases at Disney Interactive Studios and Disney Online,
partially offset by lower costs related to mobile phone services as a
result of the shut down of the domestic business in the first quarter
of fiscal 2008. The increase at Disney Interactive Studios reflected
higher product, distribution and marketing costs associated with volume
growth and increased investment in video game development. At Disney
Online the increase was driven by higher development and marketing
costs related to the Disney.com website and virtual worlds, including
the impact of a full year of Club Penguin, and the Family.com website.
Article Link

Disney to Invest More in Virtual Worlds, Sees Them Close to Profitable

2009-02-05T10:03:00.001-08:00

"We expect to continue to invest further in these businesses and
particularly in Disney-branded video games, websites, and virtual
worlds for the next few years," said Thomas O. Staggs, CFO and Senior
Executive Vice President.

"Our investment in Virtual World will continue and I think we will
ramp up somewhat. We believe that is a business that can ramp to
profitability actually reasonably quickly and show some nice returns
for us. Of course, Club Penguin is already profitable but I think there
is more for us there in that property and in the other properties that
we are developing," he explained.
Providing the opportunity to
both provide a consumer touchpoint and directly monetize its evergreen
franchises, virtual worlds seem to be playing an increasingly large
role in Disney's Interactive Media Group

Article Link

MoshiMonsters secures further backing, acquires TutPup

2009-02-03T22:53:00.001-08:00

Mindcandy, best known for its MoshiMonsters
educational virtual world for kids has pulled off a number of moves in
a short space of time, including raising a new round and acquiring
content.
Firstly, it’s raised further amount of funding, although the amount
was not disclosed. It’s emerged that just before Chistmas MindCandy
raised a round of Convertible Loan Notes. All its existing VC investors
participated (Accel, Index and Spark), plus one new investor, who
remains unnamed. CEO Michael Smith told me “I’m very happy with the
deal as the cash should take us to breakeven. Loan Notes make sense
because if we decide to raise another round it would be at a higher
valuation than we could have achieved in December, when Moshi Monsters
was still pre-revenue.”

Plus, this month Moshi has launched its subscription service - no
doubt good timing. For £4.95 a month (or £35 for the year) users get a
Moshi Monsters passport and can access premium elements.

Smith says this is going well enough to make them “cash flow
positive on a daily basis”. In December Moshi reached one million
users, boosted by early viral growth without any formal marketing so
far. Moshi Monsters lets its target market of young users create and
care for cartoonish monsters. IN doing so they must pass through
educational tests like 60-second puzzles each day across a range of
skills like maths and English.

MindCandy has also acquired the TutPup
gaming site from Cominded, the company owned by Paul Birch, a
co-founder of Bebo and brother to Michael Birch. The site has 350,000
registered users and allows kids to play multi-player educational
‘puzzle battles’ against each other. Try it - it’s addictive.

The plan now is to integrate it into Moshi Monsters to increase the breadth of multi-player puzzle games.
Article Link

How to Reach Today’s Kids and Teens: Click, Click, Talk, Talk, Talk.

2009-02-03T14:28:00.001-08:00

Did you know that 82% of US teens ages 12-17, and 43.5% of children ages
3-11, will use the Internet on a monthly basis in 2009* – both
from computers and their mobile phones?

It’s true. Today’s kids and teens are online, mobile, and
always on the go. With toy media budgets tighter than ever in a
challenging economy, it may be time to rethink your spending patterns to
catch your moving audience where they are.

Our audience navigates and communicates across social networks, text
messaging, instant messaging and virtual worlds,” says Debra
Williamson, author of the new report, Kids and Teens: Communication
Revolutionaries. “They expect transitions between communications
media to be seamless—messages sent by one means ought to be
accessible in another. The distinctions many adults make between
‘online, ‘offline’ and ‘mobile’ are
meaningless to these young multimedia mavens. Kids and teens just
communicate, period

While TV remains an important part of the marketing mix,
today’s forward-thinking youth entertainment marketer must
integrate online and mobile media spending in order to stay relevant and
pertinent. And make no mistake: pertinence matters if your message is to
break through.
Article Link

Nissan NV200 Concept

2009-02-02T16:42:00.001-08:00

The Top 10 Money-Making MMOs of 2008

2009-02-01T15:09:00.001-08:00

Game industry analyst DFC Intelligence
will publish a comprehensive study of massively multiplayer online
worlds next month, and was nice enough to give us an advance peek at
their list of MMOs and MMORPGs that earned the most revenue in 2008.
The numbers are primarily estimates based on publicly available
reports, DFC’s David Cole told me, and are decidedly on the “very
conservative” side. The wide revenue spreads reflect the fact that 2008
earnings are still being counted, though more exact numbers are
promised in the firm’s Feb. 16 report. “We indicate ranges because
these numbers are estimates for 2008 based on where we think these
products will end up,” said Cole. However, when the final numbers are
reported, the rankings below should remain the same, though “maybe a
slot here or there” will change.

While no one will be shocked by World of Warcraft’s heavy earnings,
Cole believes the Asian MMOs, which are developed at far lower budgets,
have a higher profit margin. “Profit margin on Asian games is
incredibly high,” he told me. That’s true even though most of the Asian
MMOs charge the equivalent of 5-6 cents an hour with usage cards, Cole
noted, a model that has yet to be widely adopted by Western developers.

Speaking of which, it’s notable that the bottom of the top 10 is
where the big budget MMORPGs in the World of Warcraft vein — LOTRO,
Conan, and Warhammer — reside. (All below the no-frills Runescape, which we wrote about last July.)

1. World of Warcraft, launched 2004

Genre/Platform: Western MMORPG; client install with 3D graphics

Revenue sources: Monthly subscription, retails sales, prepaid cards (in Asia)

DFC estimated 2008 revenue: $500 million-plus

2. Fantasy Westward Journey, launched 2004

Genre/Platform: Asian MMORPG, client install with 2.5D graphics

Revenue sources: Prepaid cards

DFC estimated 2008 revenue: $150-$500 million

3. Maple Story, launched 2003

Genre/Platform: Asian MMORPG for kids, client install with 2D graphics

Revenue sources: Microtransactions, prepaid cards, international licensing

DFC estimated 2008 revenue: $150-$500 million

4. Shanda (company, includes Legend of Mir and World of Legend series), launched 2003

Genre/Platform: Asian MMORPG, client install with 2.5 graphics

Revenue sources: Prepaid cards, virtual item sales, freemium subscriptions

DFC estimated 2008 revenue: $150-$500 million

5. Lineage I and Lineage II , launched 1998 and 2003

Genre/Platform: Asian MMORPG, client install with 2.5 graphics (Lineage) and 3D graphics (Lineage II)

Revenue sources: Subscription, prepaid cards

DFC estimated 2008 revenue: $150-$500 million

6. Runescape

Genre/Platform: Western MMORPG for kids, web-based with 2.5D graphics

Revenue sources: Premium subscription, prepaid cards, real-world advertising

DFC estimated 2008 revenue: $50-$150 million

7. Club Penguin, launched 2006

Genre/Platform: Virtual world for kids, web-based 2.5D graphics

Revenue sources: Premium subscriptions, prepaid game cards

DFC estimated 2008 revenue: $50-$150 million

8. Lord of the Ring Online

Genre/Platform: Western MMORPG, client install with 3D graphics

Revenue sources: Subscription, retail sales

DFC estimated 2008 revenue: $50-$150 million

9. Warhammer Online

Genre/Platform: Western MMORPG, client install with 3D graphics

Revenue sources: Subscription, retail sales

DFC estimated 2008 revenue: $50-$150 million

10. Age of Conan

Genre/Platform: Western MMORPG, client install with 3D graphics

Revenue sources: Subscription, retail sales

DFC estimated 2008 revenue: $50-$150 million

The most popular MMO among this 10, in terms of active
players? That requires more speculation, but it’s almost certainly not
World of Warcraft. Cole points out that Fantasy Westward Journey
registered an astounding 2-3 million concurrent players last August.
Though Warcraft now boasts some 11 million+ subscribers,
“You’re lucky to get 5-10 percent [of them] playing at the same time,”
he said. Maple Story developer Minho Kim told me last December that his
MMO has 87+ million registrations, but wouldn’t specify how many of
them were monthly active users. DFC’s Joost van Dreunen estimates it to
be 15-20 percent of that figure — i.e., 13-17.4 million regular Maple
Story players.

Conan and Warhammer were released in 2008, but otherwise, Cole says
the rest of the list is fairly similar to that of 2007. That will
probably remain true this year, though watch for hotly anticipated MMOs
like Free Realms and Lego Universe to make a concerted effort to crack the top 10.
Article Link

Girls get their own robot: Penbo the Pengiun

2009-01-30T22:47:00.001-08:00

While most robots are mischievous things, Bossa Nova has developed a
cute pink penguin aimed at appealing to girls rather than boys looking
to destroy everything in their path.

A cross between a doll that needs caring for and kids favourite
Pengu, Penbo (see what they've done there) is a pink penguin that
chirps and cheeps its way into your affections.

Covered in sensors the bird responds to being stroked by purring and dances the cha-cha when patted on the head.

The secret bonus however is when you press the red heart on its
chest. A door flaps down and out pops a baby penguin capable of talking
to its mother.

One, two, three... Arhhhh.

Article Link