ROBOTIC TECHNOLOGY (WowWee)

WowWee Group Limited, an Optimal Group company (NASDAQ: OPMR), is a Hong Kong-based company founded by Richard and Peter Yanofsky. Initially from Canada, the two brothers moved to Hong Kong to form the company in 1982 as an independent research & development and manufacturing outfit.[1] As an OEM seller, they produced products such as the Power Rangers Power Gloves and the Talking Tots dolls.[2] In 1987 the company changed focus, building and marketing toys under their own brand in response to a fall in OEM orders. They produced a number of new products, including a robotic dog (MegaByte), T-Rex, and the Animaltronics and Dinotronics lines of remote control animals. In 1998 the company was purchased by Hasbro.[3]
Shortly before the Hasbro sale,[4] Peter Yanofsky reportedly caught physicist/roboticist Mark Tilden on the Discovery Channel, and soon hired him as a consultant.[3] Initially Tilden worked part time with WowWee while he continued his work with the Los Alamos National Laboratory, but in 2001 Tilden joined the company full time. One of his first products with WowWee was the B.I.O. Bug, released in 2001. Unfortunately, while sales were good they weren't as strong as either WowWee or Hasbro would have liked. In part this has been attributed to the after-effects of 9/11 and the anthrax attacks, while Tilden has also expressed disappointment with some of the limitations placed on the product design by Hasbro.[4] After moving to WowWee full time in 2001, Tilden focused his attention on developing Robosapien.
While Tilden was developing Robosapien, Hasbro canceled the project several times, leading Yanofsky to negotiate out of the contract in 2003.[3] Robosapien was released in 2004, and over 1.5 million were reportedly sold in the first 5 months of sale.[5] Tilden continued to develop the line with the Robosapien V2 (2005), Roboreptile (2006), [6] the RS Media (2006) and the RoboQuad (2007). The Robosapien humanoid product line evolved to include the Robosapien V2 robot, launched in 2005, which added functionality including speech capability; and the RS Media robot, launched in 2006 and featuring a complete multimedia experience, allowing users to create and edit functions. The next generation robot, the RS Tri-Bot - a three-wheeled personality-packed companion equipped with different play modes for hours of entertainment, was released in the summer of 2008.[7]
In 2007, working with inventor Sean Frawley, WowWee released the FlyTech Dragonfly - a remote control flying ornithopter.[8] The Dragonfly was named as one of the inventions of the year by Time in 2007.[9] The success of the Dragonfly led to other flying toys, such as the Bladestar (a remote controlled helicopter) and the Butterfly (a wind-up ornithopter aimed at younger children). FlyTech Bladestar is the first flying toy with sensor-based navigation and one of only 20 products awarded with an “Editor’s Choice Award 2008” by Popular Mechanics magazine as a technologically advanced innovation.
In 2007, products from the WowWee Robotics product line were a featured McDonald’s Happy Meal boys brand in most McDonald’s territories worldwide. Since 2005, WowWee’s Robosapien V2 has made appearances in museums across the United States in a traveling exhibit called "Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination." The exhibit, which combines costumes and props from the films with real-world technologies, will complete a four-year tour at the end of this year. In addition, a selection of WowWee robots can currently be seen as part of the National Design Triennial, an ongoing exhibition series that originated with the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum and has traveled to prominent museums in Boston and Houston over the course of two years.
On September 27, 2007, the publicly-traded Optimal Group announced they had entered into a purchase agreement to acquire WowWee Ltd, which they completed in November of that year.[10]
At the 2008 CES several new products (including the Rovio (robot) and Femisapien) were announced with their estimated release dates and prices.[11][12]
In 2008, WowWee concluded an agreement giving the producing team of Avi Arad (Arad Productions) and Steven Paul (Crystal Sky Pictures) the right to produce a feature-length motion picture inspired by WowWee’s Robosapien robot. The movie, titled “Robosapien: Rebooted,” is set to combine a compelling live action story with the most advanced computer-generated imagery (CGI). Under the agreement, WowWee will have the exclusive worldwide right to market toy merchandise associated with the film and its characters, and would receive a share of the income from all other merchandising associated with the film.

QRIO ("Quest for cuRIOsity", originally named Sony Dream Robot or SDR) was to be a bipedal humanoid entertainment robot developed and marketed (but never sold) by Sony to follow up on the success of its AIBO toy. QRIO stood approximately 0.6 m (2 feet) tall and weighed 7.3 kg (16 pounds). QRIO's slogan was "Makes life fun, makes you happy!"
On January 26, 2006, on the same day as it announced its discontinuation of AIBO and other products, Sony announced that it would stop development of QRIO.[2] Before it was cancelled, QRIO was reported to be going through numerous development, testing and scalability phases, with the intent of becoming commercially available within three or four years.[citation needed]
Contents [hide]
1 Development
2 In fiction
3 See also
3.1 Toys
4 References
5 External links
[edit]Development

The QRIO prototypes were developed and manufactured by Sony Intelligence Dynamics Laboratory, Inc.[3] The number of these prototypes in existence is unknown. Up to ten QRIO have been seen performing a dance routine together; this was confirmed by a Sony representative at the Museum of Science in Boston, MA on January 22, 2006. Many videos of this can be found on the web.
Four fourth-generation QRIO prototype robots were featured dancing in the Hell Yes music video by recording artist Beck. These prototypes lacked a third camera in the center of the forehead and the improved hands and wrists which were added to later prototypes. It took programmers three weeks to program their choreography.
QRIO is capable of voice and face recognition, making it able to remember people as well as their likes and dislikes. A video on QRIO's website shows it speaking with several children. QRIO can run at 23 cm/s, and is credited in Guinness World Records (2005 edition) as being the first bipedal robot capable of running (which it defines as moving while both legs are off the ground at the same time). The 4th generation QRIO's internal battery lasts about 1 hour.
[edit]In fiction

In the 2009 series finale of the reimagined television series Battlestar Galactica, the virtual Number Six and virtual Baltar appear in coda set on modern-day Earth. They comment on the cycle of violence perpetuated by humanity's interaction with "technology run amok". The final scene then shows a montage of real-life robots, starting with a Sony QRIO.[citation needed]
[edit]See also

Robotics portal
Actroid
ASIMO
HUBO
AIBO
REEM-B
TOPIO
Nao

The Roboreptile toy robot manufactured by WowWee Ltd. The Roboreptile has infrared and sound sensors, and is able to autonomously explore its environment while avoiding obstacles. It can also operate in different modes where it simultates behaviors of real animals. It is able to rear up on its hind legs and attack. Roboreptile was released in China on the 28 April 2006 and to the rest of the world later that year.
Contents [hide]
1 Features
2 Robotyrannus
3 References
4 External links
[edit]Features

Biomorphic movements
Four-legged walking and low speed running; bipedal "attack" mode; jumping action
Flexible neck; whipping tail
Multi-sensory environmental awareness
Infrared vision sensors for obstacle avoidance and detection of movements
Sonic sensors for detection of sharp, loud sounds
Touch sensor for responding to human interaction
Five modes
Autonomous (default): Hungry and aggressive; explores and interacts with his environment searching for prey; attacking, roaring, biting behaviors
Direct control: Multi-layered 28 function remote including demo function and volume control
Program: Enter a sequence of up to 20 commands
Guard: Activates vision and sonic sensor with realistic screeching
Sleep
Three moods
Hungry: his "natural" (default) mood; activate the "feed" button on the remote and he will track down the signal
Satisfied: he calms down after eating
Hooded: he becomes subdued; depending upon human interaction, will either wake up hungry or fall asleep
Auto shut-off function
[edit]Robotyrannus

Despite its namesake, Robotyrannus is not a robotic version of a Tyrannosaurus. The Robotyrannus is a variation of the Roboreptile with some cosmetic differences: horns on its head and a dorsal fin. It is currently being sold in the UK, Canada and the United States (although in the US it is generically called Roboreptile, despite being the Robotyrannus design). Regardless of the altered appearance, Robotyrannus is functionally identical to the original Roboreptile. It has been a RadioShack exclusive in United States, but the title was RoboReptile.

AIBO (Artificial Intelligence roBOt), homonymous with "pal" in Japanese) was one of several types of robotic pets designed and manufactured by Sony; there have been several different models since their introduction on May 11, 1999. AIBO was discontinued in 2006.
Contents [hide]
1 Overview
2 RoboCup
3 International AIBO Convention
4 Breed lineage
4.1 First generation models
4.2 Second generation models
4.3 Third Generation models
5 See also
6 External links
[edit]Overview

Being able to walk, "see" its environment via camera and recognize spoken commands in Spanish and English; AIBO robotic pets are considered to be autonomous robots since they are able to learn and mature based on external stimuli from their owner or environment, or from other AIBOs. Artist Hajime Sorayama created the initial designs for the AIBO.
The original designs are part of the permanent collections of MOMA and the Smithsonian Institution. The design won Sony and artist Sorayama the highest design award that may be conferred by Japan. On January 26, 2006 Sony announced that it would discontinue AIBO and several other products as of March, 2006 in Sony's effort to make the company more profitable. It will also stop development of the QRIO robot. AIBO will still be supported until 2013 (ERS7 model) and AIBO technology will continue to be developed for use in other consumer products.[1]


AIBO playing with kids
AIBOware (the name is a trademark of Sony corporation), is the title given to the software the AIBO runs on its pink Memory Stick. The Life AIBOware allows the robot to be raised from pup to fully grown adult while going through various stages of development as its owner interacts with it. The Explorer AIBOware allows the owner to interact with a fully mature robot able to understand (though not necessarily willing to obey) 100 voice commands. Without the AIBOware, the AIBO will run in what is called "clinic mode" and can only perform basic actions.
Many AIBO owners enjoy teaching their pets new behaviors by reprogramming them (in Sony's special 'R-CODE' language). However, in October 2001, Sony sent a cease-and-desist notice to the webmaster of aibopet.com/aibohack.com, demanding that he stop distributing code that was retrieved by bypassing the copy protection mechanisms of the robot. Eventually, in the face of many outraged AIBO owners,[2], Sony released a programmer's kit for 'non-commercial' use. The kit has now been expanded into three distinct tools: R-CODE, AIBO Remote Framework, and the OPEN-R SDK. These three tools are combined under the name AIBO SDE (Software Development Environment). All of these tools are free to download and can be used for commercial or non-commercial use (Except for the OPEN-R SDK, which is specifically for non-commercial use). Since the first release of OPEN-R, several AIBO programming tools have been developed by university labs, including URBI [3], Tekkotsu [4] and AIBO+[5].
AIBO's complete vision system uses the SIFT algorithm, to recognise its charging station. The newest versions are equipped with a Wi-Fi connection, allowing them to send the pictures they take via email which led to the Roblog.
AIBO's sounds were programmed by Japanese DJ/avant-garde composer Nobukazu Takemura, fusing mechanic and organic concepts.[citation needed] The bodies of the "3x" series (Latte and Macaron, the round-headed AIBOs released in 2001) were designed by visual artist Katsura Moshino.
[edit]RoboCup

The AIBO has seen use as an inexpensive platform for artificial intelligence research, because it integrates a computer, vision system, and articulators in a package vastly cheaper than conventional research robots. The RoboCup autonomous soccer competition had a "RoboCup Four-Legged Robot Soccer League" in which numerous institutions from around the world would participate. Competitors would program a team of AIBO robots to play games of autonomous robot soccer against other competing teams. The Four-Legged League ran from 1999 to 2008, although in the final year, many big-name universities did not compete as they had moved to the new NAO platform. The University of New South Wales [6] was the most successful team in the League, making the final six times and winning three times.
[edit]International AIBO Convention

The International AIBO Convention takes place every year at Sony Robotics Tower in the Shinjuku prefecture. The first convention took place in 1999, on May 15. It was then set to May 2 to May 4. The 2009 convention, being in its tenth year, set attendance records. The convention usually features AIBO advertisements, free posters, free accessories, freeware/open-source downloads, an acoustic performance from best friends Mark Linn-Baker and Larry Sweeney, and "AIBO Shows".
[edit]Breed lineage

After model name: body color choices; release date; units sold.
[edit]First generation models


AIBO models ERS-210 (left) and ERS-111 (right)
ERS-110: silver; began sales 1 June 1999 for delivery in August; limited production of 3,000 for Japan and 2,000 for the USA
ERS-111: grey and black; November 1999; 60,000 (estimated)
[edit]Second generation models
ERS-210: black, silver, gold, red, blue, green, white (3 hues), champagne, etc.; 2001
ERS-210A: several colors; 2002
ERS-220: silver; 2002 (also available as a conversion kit for the ERS-210)
ERS-311 "Latte": cream; 2001
ERS-311b "Latte": cream; 2002
ERS-312 "Macaron": black; 2001
ERS-31L "Pug": brown; 2002
ERS-210A: cyber blue; 2003
Estimated sales for all second generation models: 60,000
[edit]Third Generation models
ERS-7: white; November 2003
ERS-7M2: white and black; November 2004
ERS-7M3: white, black, and champagne brown (called honey brown in Japan); October 2005
Estimated sales for all third generation models: 40,000 to 50,000
[edit]See also

Robotics portal
Domestic robot
i-Cybie, another robotic dog.
Furby, a robot toy made by Tiger Electronics.
Sony CISC, which gives telephone technical support for AIBO.
QRIO, a humanoid robot also developed by Sony
Asimo, a humanoid robot created by Honda.
Pleo, robotic dinosaur.
Nao, a humanoid robot replacing AIBO in Robocup competitions.
Genibo, a robotic dog from Dasarobot.
UCHILSIM, a physics based simulator of AIBO robots competing in RoboCup.

# 138004
Technical Specification:
- ATMEL ATMEGA 128 microcontroller
- On-board memory: 64KB flash type

- Maximum connectable servos: 24
- HMI (HITEC Multi - protocol interface)
- Servo parameter setting function
- Digital I/O port: 40
- Optional "LCD indicatory unit"
- PWM output 3CH
- A/D conversion port: 8
- Piezoelectric buzzer equipment
- Ultrasonic sensor
- optional IR remote control kit
- High-speed serial communication (UART) system
- supports ROBOBASIC/ ROBOSCRIPT/ ROBOREMOCON
- firmware upgradeable

MR-C3000 is one of the smallest and advanced robot controllers in the world. Capable of controlling 32 joints simultaneously, MR-C3000 is perfect for use with biped robots, and other types of multi-jointed robots

Specification
- Latest ATmega 128 MPU from ATMEL
- UART(Simultaneous control of 32 servo motors) capable
- High speed serial communication
- 40 I/O ports, 3 PWM signal ports, / 8Ch A/D conversion
feature - Serial control (VB,VC++)
- LCD module control
- 6 octave piezo for sound and music
- Ultrasonic sensor control
- IR remote control command reception
- Up to 32KB internal flash memory
- Requires ROBOBASIC v2.0 or above
- Data download using (optional) serial I/F cable

Modular construction for easy Transformation
- Valuable educational tool for robotics
- Easy Icon-based visual programming for beginner
- also programmable by C with WINAVR
- using stardard I2C Bus for sensor ports
- Expandable by optional modules
- Complete no soldering
- Develop skills of microelectronics, programming, robotics, sensors
- Recognise environmental change and response to them by sensor combination
- No bricks required
- Great teaching assisant for group challenge
- Tool for hands-on activity for real world
- Brings into higher stage of C-Programming

3 Steps:
1. Assemble in 10min! - easy and quick start
2. Programm - icon-based visual programming
3. Experience - interact with sensors

Applications:
- Line Tracer detect and follow line
- Light Tracer interaction with light
- Sound Tracer interaction with sound
- Pathfinder navigate a maze
- Robot Sports Soccer, SUMO

Set includes:
Mainboard
- 5 x MA-VIN module sockets
- 1 x LCD Display socket
- Atmel microcontroller
- Sound Sensor

Photosensor module
- 6 x Photo Sensor

Sensor Modules
- LCD Display
- Buzzer
- Speaker
- LED Module (4 LED)
- Color Detection Sensor
- Tact Switch Module
- Touch Sensosr

Base Components
- 2 Gearboxed Motors
- 2 Wheels
- USB Cable
- Transparent Cover
- Mainboardholder
- Battey Box
- Screws
- Software CD
- 5 language manual included (english, german, french, italian, Spanish)

Transformations [optional, not included]
- Bulldozer
- Crab Robot

Minimum Requirement:
- 256 MB of RAM minimum [512 MB recommended]
- Up to 300 MB of available harddisk space
- XGA display [1024x768]
- 1 available USB port
- CD-ROM drive
- Windows XP
- Intel