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Tomy I-SOBOT Robot |
Customer Reviews:
4/5 Stars victor miranda says: I like the robot enough that I bought another.
I consider the toy to be potentially educational
because it can be programmed to do a series of steps.
I can see it is versitile and fun.
With practice it is fairly easy to run the little guy around
and pick up light items.
If I have any issues with the toy,
it is that I'd like more support for programming it.
Mainly to allow making 'skits' and shows something like
what comes with the i-sobot.
Tomy should make a PC or Mac based program
to keep and aid making more complicated
programs to load into the robot.
3/5 Stars Thomas West says: I-Sobot is a fragile toy robot. It has many warnings about the many ways you can break it.
It is quite an entertaining little bot when YOU are controlling it. But if you put down the remote control and watch, I-Sobot just sits there, yawns a bit and then "falls asleep." For EVERY action that you want it to perform, YOU need to hit buttons or joy sticks on its remote. There are hundreds of key combinations, none of which are easy to remember. (I think there was one called A.A.A that did something fun.)
It is missing some of the key features that most robots have these days. It has no mode that will let it run on its own. It cannot sense the edge of a table and of course will break if it falls. It cannot sense something in front of it. It only has sensors that keep it from falling over, although with feet nearly as long as it's legs are tall, It does not need sensors that much. It has a small vocabulary of words it understands and it does pretty well with that if in a quiet room. It's own voice is not very loud which is a good thing as it is quite chatty.
There is a program mode which is a bother to use.
If you are looking for a robot toy with a bit more "robotics" in it, the Robosapian and other Wowee robot toys are a much better bet. If you want to teach your older child (12+) about real robotics the Vex kit is the way to go.
If you are looking for something to ENTERTAIN a 8-13 year old that is VERY careful with toys or an adult that needs another bit of technology on his desk, this would be just the thing.
PS. You've got to love that first "review." It was probably written by the I-Sobot marketing team.)
5/5 Stars Lincoln J. Mennuti says: Right to the details first...
^++ The Pros ++^
+ Excellent price to functionality ratio. It walks, it talks and it can balance on 1 leg...It can even do a somersault (to name just a few things)...All for about the price of a Robosapien V2. But in terms of robotics ability the V2 is a $0.99 Store cheapy in comparison.
+ Comes packaged with 3xAAA Eneloop batteries and a battery charger. This is an excellent addition. If you're not familiar with Eneloops brand batteries, in a nutshell they have an outstandingly low self-discharge rate while in storage. So no worries if the Robot goes off to storage for a bit, the batteries will still be decently charged when I-Sobot makes a re-appearance
+ It walks. Not some gimmicky pseudo walking, I-Sobot actually stands on 2 feet and takes human-like steps.
+ It can get back to a standing position, using 1 of 2 sequences based on whether it's on its back or belly.
+ It can balance on 1 leg and do kicks (front kicks, like kicking a soccer ball, and side-kicks like doing martial arts).
+ 4 Modes of operation:
+++ Remote Control Mode: Essentailly a real-time mode almost like a video game, where your inputs have almost immediate results.
+++ Special Action Mode: Enter in special key sequences and I-Sobot does pre-defined actions, such as doing a re-enactment of the "go ahead, make my day" from Dirty Harry.
+++ Program Mode: Enter in multiple sequences from the other modes and save them to be played in order
+++ Voice Command Mode: I-Sobot reacts accordingly to certain voice queues.
+ I-Sobot was conceptualized and made in Japan. Anyone familiar with the Hobby of Humanoid Robotics knows that Japan is essentially the forerunner of the hobby, not to mention the Japanese following for it (compared to any other country, especially America) is far higher. This makes the I-Sobot both an impressive feat of engineering and durable/reliable.
+ Excellent re-playability. Take the Tickle-Me Elmo TMX as an example. I bought one for my young son and only after a couple of minutes of watching it do the same things over and over, he lost interest and Elmo has been collecting dust ever since. The I-Sobot, on the other hand, has kept him near mesmerized for a couple of weeks and even now that's its been months later, I-Sobot still makes near daily appearances to entertain him.
^-- The Cons --^
- The I-Sobot DEVOURS battery power! If the robot is going to be used on a regular basis, I'd highly recommend buying at least 2 more sets (6 more AAA size) of batteries. The robot has 17 servos, so it's to be expected and par for the course to power this little marvel.
- No volume adjustment. The speech and sound F/X is quite loud and unfortunately there's no volume adjustment.
- Effective on flat, even surfaces only (like Hardwood Floors). It'll work on carpet and such, but not reliably.
Final Words
Especially now that the I-Sobot can be had for under 200 hundred dollars (with a little shopping around, WELL under 200), it's a great time to pickup one of these truly bi-pedal humanoid robots. You'll find yourself coming back to it again and again, not to mention anyone you show it to is impressed at seeing something about the size of a chunky action figure walking, talking, kicking and doing air guitar!
If you've ever had a fascination with robots, the I-Sobot is the real deal.
3/5 Stars Ron K. Smythe says: Mine arrived with one weak servo out of 17, that prevents it from preforming some of it's moves. I spoke to Tomy, Inc. about it and they are very nice and helpful. They said they would pay both ways for shipping and have it back to me in a month. So far, I've decided to just keep it.
The battery system is awful. It has 3, 1.2v, 750ma rated, eneloop AAA batteries in series and a separate charger. The batteries last only about 20 minutes and then have to be removed and placed in the charger unit for about 4 hours. If instead it had 3 AAA 3.6v lithium ion rechargeable batteries, in parallel, with a charging port, it would have 2-3 times the run time and would be a snap to recharge.
As far as the robot goes, it's a lot of fun, but, requires a lot of care and maintenance. I would say it's designed for ages 12 and up. For younger kids, say 8 years and up, the parents will have to be involved.
5/5 Stars G. Capello says: I purchased this robot for my 8 year old son for Christmas. I was actually looking for another robot that I had seen in Sam's club and came across this one. After reading the reviews and watching the video I put the I sobot in my cart to be saved for later. I was hesitant to purchase such an expensive toy that I thought might easily be broken by my rambunctious 8 yr old. I also didn't know if it would be easy enough for him to use since it was recommended for 10 yrs old and up. This robot turned out to be the hit of Christmas. Everyone in our family is amazed by all of the many "talents" I sobot has. The funniest thing is the western "skit". My son keeps telling us over and over how much he loves it. I think he likes it more than the 250 dollar electric scooter we got him also.
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