Disney recently announced that it will begin selling a line of robotic toys, to coincide with the upcoming animated film, WALL·E. The robots will appeal to both boys and girls, with some based on characters from the movie, and even a flying Tinker Bell fairy bot.
One of the robots is the Ultimate WALL·E. According to the press release…
Ultimate WALL·E features 10 motors, giving it a high level of movement and animation. The remote control makes it easy for kids to program WALL·E’s movements. An innovative touch programming system lets kids direct WALL·E simply by making patterns on the remote’s touch pad. With voice activation and a follow-me mode, WALL·E can follow the sound of a human voice and detect someone entering a room. He also has several emotional states and an easy system for programming thousands of combinations of movements with the remote. Numerous sensors allow him to detect and respond to his environment, including infrared sensors that allow him to detect obstacles and steer around them, sonic ears that detect sound direction, and touch sensors. The Ultimate WALL·E is also MP3 compatible and features built-in speakers. USB cables and rechargeable batteries are included.
The toys were unveiled at last weekend’s MakerFaire (“the premier event for grassroots American innovation”). I’m looking forward to trying these robot toys. As a geek parent, I love toys that make science and technology fun and accessible for children. I’m not a fan of things that just eat batteries and make noise. If these robots are programmable and interactive (and safely non-sentient), I might bring one home!
I love WALL·E (already)!! Ultimate WALL·E is really high-tech…usb and mp3, wow – although I can only imaging what kids would try to stick into a usb port.
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O.M.G.
My daughter Emma is a *HUGE* Pixar fan anxiously awaiting this movie. She also loves Tink, so I expect she’ll just about burst whenever she finds out about these.
(I’m holding off on telling her. And yes, she knows what a USB port is.
She’s seven, don’t all 7yo geek kinds now that?)
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That is awesome! My son would love that! Do you have any idea how much it will cost?
Cindy Lietz, The Polymer Clay Tutors last blog post..More Ideas for Polymer Clay Plastic Storage Boxes
That is actually pretty cool! The kids in the US are getting so far behind in tech skills such as robotics, maybe if Disney can reel them in earlier we can change that.
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The toy looks good. I’m sure it will attract the daddies too!
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@Cindy: ToysRUs and http://www.disneyshopping.com; SRP $189.99 for the Ultimate Wall-E. TinkerBell SRP $39.99, available at ToysRUs, Wal-Mart, Radio Shack and other major retailers beginning this fall.
If my husband finds out about this, it’ll all be over. We’ll have those things all over the place!
Mommie
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want!
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I never noticed it before but I love your “welcome friends” statement. Anyway, I am a HUGE Pixar fan and cant wait till the movie comes out.
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@Mommie: That would be fun, right? More stuff to trip over!
@Canucklehead: Me too! Putting this in my letter to Santa.
@BigPappa: Thanks for liking it! I was hoping it wasn’t just taking up space, because I really do want my friends to feel welcome!
Is it just me or does Wall-E look a lot like Number 5 from the movie Short Circut?
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Finally technology is getting to where we can get our kids real robots. Me and my daughter loved Wall-E. How very cool, soon they’ll be making us breakfast. Disney’s got a fun idea here. Does anyone have one of these robots yet?