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[barrettgazzy]

Any1 seen Chip the robotic dog by Wowwee ? Looks promising hope they go all out on this 1 .

http://youtu.be/-Jc7LpQLef4

[Echo538]

No, I haven't seen or heard of it...want to look on youtube now, my video method of choice!!

[barrettgazzy]

Won't be about until about September next year , apparently self docking etc

[Echo538]

Yes...just looked it up a while ago...fascinating! Comes to you by itself and charges itself, knows where you are via bluetooth, has a ball it plays with, the only thing that needs batteries, and seems really cool! I know Pleos are a lot like babies, but just for the feel of it, it would be nice to have something that's really like a baby doll or robot baby, aside from furbies, the Yugobe Pleo, and the Pleo RB, to add to my collection. I used to have robotic dogs but never had Aibos, and though I tried out some of the animals from Wowwee, I had to save money so they were mostly cheap things like the baby seal and koala, which were great for motion sensers and lights and snored when they fell asleep for five minutes before shutting off, but not as advanced as Chip. Seems interesting.

[Talon]

Grr! Just when I thought I was done collecting! Sounds really interesting!
Talon

[barrettgazzy]

There will always be something new that comes out Talon lol

[Echo538]

What?! Done collecting? You? Never! Yes, something new will always come out...collectors' delights! Trust me...I love it!

[Crewella]

Done collecting indeed ........ heheheh!

[aibo7m3]

I remember back when I said I was done collecting when I had five Aibos...Now I have twelve, soon to be thirteen. Aha, Talon, don't fool yourself, you'll never be done collecting, only temporarily delayed when budgets are low.

Robots are not so slowly taking over my home and I'm definitely excited to add CHiP to my collection once he is released. I'm hoping the quality will be closer to an I-Cybie though and farther from a Zoomer since Zoomers have been a bit of a disappointment for me.

[barrettgazzy]

They have a year to release Chip let's hope in that time they are not just trying to work out how to keep costs down and use cheap breakable parts etc

[Talon]

Just curious, you guys with working eyes. If you can tell, how big is this dog. He sounds really small, about Zoomer-sized?
Talon

[aibo7m3]

@Talon
Looks similar sized to Zoomer, possibly slightly bigger. He does look bulkier than Zoomer, so I'd expect he'd be heavier. He has wheels like Zoomer does, but instead of being able to turn his body at the center, the wheels can move forward/back or left/ride without the robot needing to turn its body.

[Skygryph]

Huh, this actually looks like it has a lot of potential. Not going to lie, my expectations were low when I saw it was by WowWee (I had their Robopet as a kid and was very disappointed with it), but Chip looks like what I thought their robotic pets would be like at the time. Love the self-charging dock and the tracking features, and the price point isn't bad at all for a collector, though I do wonder if it'll be too high for kids/parents. Either way, I'm just glad robotic pets are taking the stage again. Zoomer and the recent Furbies were very simplistic, but they were still something, and this finally seems like the jump in technology that I've been waiting for. Definitely going to keep an eye out.

[aibo7m3]

I do think this robot will be interesting and plan on buying one after the price has come down a bit, but I'm not setting my expectations much above Zoomer level (though I am at least hoping for more durable hardware as many Zoomers seem to break within a few hours of use). I like the self-charging feature, but am not sure I'm a fan of the tracking ones since the robot doesn't seem to be acting autonomously at all in these modes. I-Cybie which is around $50 used (albeit long discontinued) has a self-docking feature and better hardware and AI than a Zoomer. I do think this robot will be a step in the right direction for current consumer robotics, but still see it as more "toy" level than collector level (though I'll be waiting to hear reviews once it comes out for a better opinion). IMO, if you're looking for an intelligent robot dog, the only thing that really reaches this bar is Aibo (and early models aren't much more pricey than CHiP). It is nice to see a more advanced robot toy that's still being produced though, so I would like to be cautiously optimistic about CHiP.

[Skygryph]

Hopefully it'll be better than the Zoomers. It looks more advanced to me, but I can see why you're saying that. These sorts of toy robots usually don't live up to their claims. *sighs*
Autonomy could definitely be an issue. I was thinking it's acting something autonomously in these modes, but I'll have to rewatch the video again (or just wait until it's actually released). As for the I-Cybie, I knew about the charging station, but I had no idea they're that cheap now.  I was thinking they were a few hundred dollars (probably got mixed up in my head with more expensive robots). In that case, I partially take back what I said, since it's not as big of a leap as I thought. I say partially because I'm still happy to see something is being done in the field, like you. We've gone from the recent Furby (very barebones), to the Zoomer (barebones, but impressive in its movement), to the Miposaur (better than the Zoomer, though not by much, and good movement), and now to this Chip, which seems to be another step up. Slow, gradual improvement is better than none at this point, in my eyes. But yes, I'll probably end up purchasing an earlier Aibo sometime in the next year. Always wanted one. ^_^

[Echo538]

What?! I thought this dog was way, way bigger than Zoomer...like bulldog sized! I too am blind...shows how much I know I guess. I saw this robot dog prototype once but it was through a gate and you couldn't touch it when it was on display like that...I thought it and Chip were huge!

[InmemoryofRomeo]

I hate this trend towards wheels over legs Removes the immersion. Don't get me wrong, they are cool,but it's not where I'd like to see robots heading.

[PWOKristy]

Some one beat me to it with making a post for this upcoming robot. From WowWee, I'd definitely buy a dinosaur version of this. I'd even pre-order 1, on their fund raiser, if they had it as a dinosaur. I'm not a big fan of robotic dogs.