Two hot robots from CES 2008
CES presents two robots to scare your pets with: WowWee's curvaceous Femisapien and the R2-D2 DVD projector from Nikko Entertainment.
Over the past three days, CES has showcased the latest in ultra-flat TVs, high-capacity flash storage and gesture-based computing. All very useful and impressive, but let's ditch the serious stuff -- it's time to play with some silly robots.
Day three saw a trio of cute critters take the floor: WowWee's anime-styled Femisapien; Nikko's geektastic R2D2 DVD projector; and Sony's Rolly, an ovoid disco dancer we previewed yesterday.
FemiSapien: The sultry yet helpful fembot
Resembling a mechanical character from a particularly zany anime series, WowWee's Femisapien is the lady version of the company's Robosapien model. She walks in slinky strides, hands out business cards and is capable of learning movement routines -- and will then show them off in response to visual commands.
Femisapien features five motors and will play for 10 hours on six AA batteries.
WowWee's Mike Gonzales said that Australia is a "test market" for the company: some products are released here before showing up in the U.S., so that Aussies can give their opinions on the quirky toys. Femisapien is scheduled to appear locally around September.
R2-D2 projector: For when you want Leia fullscreen
Taking Star Wars geekery to the next level is radio-control company Nikko, which offers a DVD projector housed in a half-scale R2-D2 robot. The kicker? The remote control is a scale model of the Millennium Falcon.
That's FemiSapien on the left and Artoo on the right, in case you weren't sure
The 52cm tall R2 provides you with a maximum screen size of 6.44 metres at a resolution of 1024 by 768 pixels. That's a whole lotta Leia, especially in the notorious gold bikini scene.
Artoo plays DVDs and CDs, the audio coming from two 10-watt speakers housed in its body. An iPod dock and multi-format memory card reader allow you to get your Star Wars on in as many ways as possible.
The projector is priced at US$2700. Australians can order their Artoos online at ExclusiveStarWars.com, but as it only accepts Euros, the exchange rate's a bit rough. Prepare to pay AU$4,150, not including shipping.
If the plump white bot is a bit wussy for you, future Nikko products may appeal -- they're going to "blow your mind", according to Nikko Entertainment president Jeroen Bakker.
Oh yeah? How so? "Think light sabers; think Death Star." Sweet!