Bob the Pleo Forums
Robot Stuff => General Robotics => Topic started by: kat on March 07, 2014, 05:12:25 AM
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I stumbled across this today when surfing the net and thought it looked interesting.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2117525416/supertoy-worlds-first-natural-talking-teddy-bear
http://supertoyrobotics.com/index.html#
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So they're trying to make a real Teddy like the one from AI? I can totally get behind that. He was the best part of the movie and I've wanted one ever since.
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Don't get too excited just yet, I did some digging and SuperToy's original creators (the ones who started the Kickstarter campain) had a falling out in August 2013 and SuperToy is no longer happening :(
People who originally pledged enough money to secure a free bear once production started will still get the original SuperToy, everyone else is getting refunded. Looking at the extensive list of complaints about lack of communication and delays from people who gave money to this company it looks like a real mess of a situation.
HOWEVER according to the SuperToy facebook page they have sold the idea of teddy to an American company (Commonwealth Toys) who has made a prototype called 'WikiBear' that they have shown off at a recent toy fair: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Et60TuIWJJM
The voice it has in the video is only the prototype voice and not the voice it will be sold with.
I can't find a definite release date for this version of the bear but their facebook page is updated regularly and has some great photos: https://www.facebook.com/wikibearofficial
I really want this bear to happen. Will buy one for sure if they ever make it to sale. I'll have to buy a smart phone just to play with him :P
Thankyou for the links Kat. :st_pat_beer:
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I too was investigating as they hadn't updated any of their sites in ages so thought it might have been too good to be true. So glad you could share your links to what may be the real deal. It looks like a really great concept and I too would love to own one. I will be watching this to see if it goes anywhere :)
For those of you who want to see here is a promo video of him
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Utj_u5wR-Rs
I hope they make him with a boy voice too.
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Want!!! Well I'll add it to the long list of wants :P
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I definately want one. I wonder how much it will be.
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They are suggesting about $69.95 and some news articles say could be released in July others say September but it looks like it should be out for Christmas. The price has not been set yet so that could change but it looks like not too expensive for what it is :) I will keep an eye on it and when they release any solid info I'll update and let you all know :)
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Cool! I'll be able to afford that. Definately going to snag one whenever it comes out.
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At that price I will likely snag more than one :) The kids at school would love them!
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So some investigating has lead me to find that while the original creators had a falling out the main guy whose idea it was originally continued on with the project alone. He has recently over the last few days got himself someone else to help with the PR side of things on his kick starter page and has put up a few updates in the last few days. He was working so hard on trying to get the programming for the bear completed that he just didn't have any time left to update his customers and answer their questions. There were a lot of negative comments on the kick starter page but only because people didn't know what was happening. He has informed them all that they will be getting their original supertoy bear as promised by the kick starter and he has told them about getting commonwealth toys to invest in his product to make Wikibear which will be the on shelf model of this bear. They are being given the option of getting Wikibear instead of the supertoy version if they would like it. So he is doing his best to please his backers and working hard to get his idea out there for sale to everyone. :) He currently has a Beta version of the program ready to go and the 2000 bears for his backers have been ordered for production about a month ago so I'm guessing that his kickstarter backers will have their bears sometime in the next couple of months. He plans on releasing the bears to them with the Beta programming and then putting out an update for their bears with extra features etc as he gets them completed. My understanding is that Wikibear will wait for the completed programming before being released later this year.
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Ah, I've been wondering what was happening with SuperToy. Thanks for the update!
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An update on this if anyone is interested.... It seems that commonwealth toys who bought the rights to Wikibear are now being done for tax evasion and thus Wikibear either has stalled or is no more. But it does look like the original inventor of the supertoy bear is still trying to go ahead with his project and he has released an app for the bear to the google store. he is still working on the iOS version of the app and so far none of his kickstarter backers have yet received their bears. I hope he manages to keep on with this project because it looks like it will be a really cool product if he does manage to get it out there.
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Anxiously awaiting news on this too.
Talon
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Wow it looks great , if it comes out I definitely want one ;D the price is also very affordable :D