Referred to as "The first true robotic arthropod," Roboquad is one of the 5

robot A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may be ...

s that

WowWee WowWee Group Limited, is a privately owned, Hong Kong-based Canadian consumer technology company. History Initially from Canada, the two founding brothers (Richard and Peter Yanofsky) moved to Hong Kong to form the company in 1982, as an independ ...

announced at CES in January 2007. It is a 4-legged robot that somewhat resembles a

spider Spiders (order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species d ...

and a

dog The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from the extinct Pleistocene wolf, and the modern wolf is the dog's nearest living relativ ...

. Also designed by Mark Tilden, the Roboquad, like other WowWee robots, has multiple

personalities Personality psychology is a branch of psychology that examines personality and its variation among individuals. It aims to show how people are individually different due to psychological forces. Its areas of focus include: * construction of a ...

, awareness of its surroundings, some

autonomous In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy, from , ''autonomos'', from αὐτο- ''auto-'' "self" and νόμος ''nomos'', "law", hence when combined understood to mean "one who gives oneself one's ...

behaviour and can be controlled via a

remote Remote may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Remote'' (1993 film), a 1993 movie * ''Remote'' (2004 film), a Tamil-language action drama film * ''Remote'' (album), a 1988 album by Hue & Cry * Remote (band), ambient chillout band * ' ...

Features

*Five Scanning Sequences :#Smart Scan: examines its surroundings and reacts to changes :#Scan Left and Right: turns and faces any nearby object :#Approach Nearest Object: moves towards the closest object it detects :#Escape Walk: moves towards the largest open space it finds :#Flinch Response: reacts to rapidly approaching objects *Five Usage Modes: :#Direct Control: user controlled movement :#Autonomous Mode: self-directed interaction with its environment :#Guard Mode: similar to Guard Mode on other WowWee bots, Roboquad reacts to noises and movement with

sound effects A sound effect (or audio effect) is an artificially created or enhanced sound, or sound process used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media. Traditi ...

. :#Sleep: falls asleep after 5 minutes and powers down after 24 hours. :#Demo: features a dance routine *Edge Detection *Remote Control: for controlling movement, programming, and adjusting personalities *72 Preprogrammed functions *40 programmable moves *Demo Mode

Hardware

*4x leg

motors An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ...

*4x leg motor position

sensors A sensor is a device that produces an output signal for the purpose of sensing a physical phenomenon. In the broadest definition, a sensor is a device, module, machine, or subsystem that detects events or changes in its environment and sends ...

*2x head and neck motors (its head can swivel around completely) *2x lens-focused, face-mounted deep

Infrared Infrared (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from aroun ...

vision (13 ft range) *1x

microphone A microphone, colloquially called a mic or mike (), is a transducer that converts sound into an electrical signal. Microphones are used in many applications such as telephones, hearing aids, public address systems for concert halls and pub ...

*1x light sensor *1x

remote control In electronics, a remote control (also known as a remote or clicker) is an electronic device used to operate another device from a distance, usually wirelessly. In consumer electronics, a remote control can be used to operate devices such as ...

* Requires 4 x C and 3 x AAA size batteries

Personalities

Like other WowWee robots, the Roboquad has multiple 'personalities' which are dubbed 'States'. Those states are State of Awareness, State of

Aggression Aggression is overt or covert, often harmful, social interaction with the intention of inflicting damage or other harm upon another individual; although it can be channeled into creative and practical outlets for some. It may occur either reacti ...

and State of Activity, and they can each be set to low, medium or high. In the

Awareness Awareness is the state of being conscious of something. More specifically, it is the ability to directly know and perceive, to feel, or to be cognizant of events. Another definition describes it as a state wherein a subject is aware of some info ...

state, it spends more time scanning its surroundings. When its Aggression state is increased, its behaviour simulates anger and aggression and finally the higher the Activity state, the further and faster the Roboquad will wander. With its light, sound and IR sensors, Roboquad is pre-programmed to simulate reactions to external stimuli and acts accordingly.

Movement and Autonomy

The Roboquad's legs all swivel around and so it is able to walk forward, backwards and sideways at about the same rate and mobility. Its head is also able to swivel around completely, so it is able to scan its surroundings without turning its body. In addition to its adjustable personalities (States), Roboquad's 5 different scanning sequences (described above in Features) are

modulated In electronics and telecommunications, modulation is the process of varying one or more properties of a periodic waveform, called the ''carrier signal'', with a separate signal called the ''modulation signal'' that typically contains informatio ...

according to how the personalities are tuned. The documentation states that Roboquad's infrared sensors are sensitive enough to allow it to navigate doorways. It is also a good friend for people above 5.

External links

* {{WowWee Robots Toy brands Robotic spiders Entertainment robots Robotic dogs WowWee 2007 robots