Whether you want to play with a high-tech pet dinosaur or fight robot wars with remote control cars, WowWee has you covered with the intelligent beacon-powered Miposaur and REV cars.
WowWee, the maker of high-tech robotic toys, showed Tech Times its latest products, both due for release this summer at the CE Week conference in New York.
The Miposaur is a dinosaur companion to MIP, a smart autonomous robot released by WowWee last year. Kind of like a modern Tamagotchi, the Miposaur is an autonomous robotic pet with feelings or "moods" that you can take for a walk, feed and play with.
The little dinosaur rolls around on wheeled legs and uses beacon technology to sense where it is and to move about. The Miposaur can move and play autonomously or be controlled by hand gestures or via an app on your smartphone.
The toy comes with a special ball, also equipped with beacon technology, that can be used to take the dinosaur for a walk, feed it or play catch depending on the setting. My favorite was the meat setting, which caused the surrounding dinosaurs to hunt down the ball and start chomping with their teeth in anticipation of a feed.
The Miposaur has three moods: curious, excited and annoyed, and it will respond differently depending on its frame of mind. If you don't want to use the ball, your pet will respond to 10 different hand gestures by sitting, spinning or running around if you clap twice. Alternatively, you can directly control the dinosaur using an app on your smartphone that communicates with the toy via Bluetooth.
The Miposaur will be hitting Target and Toys 'R' Us stores in August. For $199, you get one dinosaur and one ball. The four AA batteries for the dinosaur and four AAA batteries for the ball, we're told, will last five hours of playtime. WowWee's prime target audience is six- to eight-year-old boys, but they are planning a hot pink version for girls.
The REV (Robotic Enhanced Vehicles) cars were also zipping around the CE Week conference. Working on similar beacon technology as the Miposaur, the cars are like a physical version of a two-person beat 'em up video game.
Either playing with a friend or against an AI (artificial intelligence) powered car, you fire virtual lasers at and batter your opponent into submission. You control your car using an app on your phone and can select a computerized opponent of various competence levels based on a variety of AI engines. The computer-powered car uses beacons to sense where your car and other obstacles are. Like in a video game, the cars battle until one runs out of life energy, which is indicated on the app.
The cars can also seek out and jump over a smart ramp accessory. The ramp can also be gamified to reward jumps with extra life energy or new weapons. From July 11th, for $99.99, you'll get two cars at Target stores. The ramp is an extra $39.99. The REV cars are aimed at eight- to 12-year-olds, but judging by the excitement they caused at the conference, I suspect there may be many older customers!
Check out a video of the Miposaur below.
CE Week 2015's consumer electronics and technology exhibits run through Thursday in New York City. More than 175 participating companies showcase what's new, along with a program of over 35 conference sessions, keynotes and workshops, at the Metropolitan Pavilion/Altman Building.
