RoboSapien

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RoboSapien.
RoboSapien.
This article is about biomorphic robot. For the Malibu album, see Robo-Sapiens.

RoboSapien is a toy-like biomorphic robot designed by Mark Tilden and produced by Wow Wee toys. The RoboSapien is preprogrammed with moves, and also can be controlled by an infrared remote control included with the toy, or by either a personal computer equipped with an infrared transmitter, and an infrared transmitter-equipped PDA. RoboSapien, as the advert for it says, is "The robot that thinks it's a human!". The toy is capable of a walking motion without recourse to wheels within its feet. It is also able to grasp objects with either of its hands, and is also able to throw grasped objects with mild force. It has a small loudspeaker unit, which can broadcast several different vocalizations, all of which appear to be recordings of a human male pretending to be a great ape, such as a gorilla. Or it can fart or belch very loudly.

The toy's remote control unit has a total of 21 different buttons. With the help of two shift buttons, a total of 67 different robot-executable commands are accessible.

Contents

[edit] Programming of the RoboSapien

The RoboSapien, or more correctly the RoboSapien controller, is equipped with a basic level of programmability. Users can string together movement commands to form what the toy's manual describes as either macros or mini-programs, but which are more correctly described as robotic instructions sets. A completed Instruction-set is broadcast to the RoboSapien, which then saves the set to on-board memory for later execution. Instruction-set Programs can be re-played back by performing the following actions :

  • pressing the "execute" button
  • touching one of the sensors on the RoboSapien's hands or feet
  • putting the RoboSapien in "listen" mode and then making a sharp noise.

It is also possible to produce a sensor-keyed instruction set, where the RoboSapien will then perform a specific set of actions on contact with a specific sensor system (i.e. contact with the left hand would produce a set of sounds followed by a specific programmed gesture)

RoboSapien Remote.
RoboSapien Remote.

[edit] Command list

Bulldozer Burp
Fart (Oops) High Five
Left arm down Left arm in
Left arm out Left arm up
Lean back Lean forward
Lean left Lean right
Left pick up Left strike 1
Left strike 2 Left strike 3
Left sweep Left throw
Left thump Left (turn left)
Reset Right arm down
Right arm in Right arm out
Right arm up Right pick up
Right strike 1 Right strike 2
Right strike 3 Right sweep
Right throw Right thump
Right (turn right) Roar
Step backward Step forward
Stop Talk back
Turn step left Turn step right
Wake up Walk backward
Walk forward Whistle
Dance Demo 1
Demo2 All Demo

There are more cheats and codes on this page.

[edit] User Modifications

Mark Tilden designed the RoboSapien to be easily modified or hacked. The electronics inside the toy are easily accessed and clearly labeled. A growing community of hackers have devoted themselves to adding new functionality to the robot. Some hacks have added a live video camera, others an LED belt that displays text, headlights, a coil gun, speech synthesis, a "flamethrower" (a small torch) and more.

Modified RoboSapiens playing a soccer game.
Modified RoboSapiens playing a soccer game.

[edit] Soccer

German Open 2005 tournament two teams of three RoboSapiens each played the first Soccer match of humanoid robots worldwide. University of Osnabrück played against a team from Albert Ludwig's University of Freiburg. Replacing the head by a PDA allowed the robot to perceive its environment with a camera, a control program could then react to this via the PDA's infrared sender.

[edit] SpiderSapien & Homersapien

In January 2007, two new Robosapien variants were introduced at the Toy Fair in London, styled after Spider-Man and Homer Simpson, respectively. The Spidersapien features Spider-Man styled armour, and an array of Spider-Man sound effects. It was launched together with Spider-Man 3. Homersapien was launched to coincide with the release of The Simpsons Movie. He is similarly adapted with sound bites and a sculpted Homer head, as well as a unique Simpsons accessory and packaging.

[edit] See also

Robotics Portal

[edit] External links


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WowWee Robotics