Two brains better than one for latest Robosapien

Posted by T3 Online on Thu 6 Jul 2006

Robosapien RS Media gets it on with Lego's Mindstorm NXT

Thanks to its full-colour LCD screen and SD card slot, the Robosapien RS Media is already looking like the smartest robot on the block, but it now turns out that it can be made even smarter by hooking it up to Lego's Mindstorm NXT robot brain.

At a recent get together with Lego one of their spokespeople took us aside to give us a bit of a heads up on how the NXT can be hooked up to the RS Media.

Apparently Robosapien designer Mark Tilden loves Mindstorm kit so much he has designed his new robot so that the Mindstorm NXT robot brain fits perfectly on the rear as a backpack. And once the NXT brain is hooked up to the RS Media you can use it to program in complicated sequences of moves to let the Robosapien perform even more tricks.--

We've also got a bit more information on upcoming robots from WowWee. The next Robosapien after the RS Media will not just be four foot tall and have Segway wheels, it'll also be able to connect to the internet and respond to voice commands.

So, for example, if you ask it what the weather will be like later it'll check the internet for the latest forecast and use text to speech technology to tell you whether to pack a brolly. The robot will be aimed at adults and cost around the same price as a flatpanel TV.

The company is also working on other projects including a robotic spider and a robotic dragon fly that controls its pitch and yaw when airborne via subtle movements of its wings.