THIS MONTH:
More Than
Meets the Eye
Last time, we had the honor to
present two robots — the
Roboquad and Robopanda — that
approached the line between toy and
robot from the robot side of the
equation. This month, the V-Bot shows
that a toy can also approach that fine
line between electronic plaything and
seemingly sentient automaton.
Mighty Morphing
V-Bot
After the first trial of any cool toy
— getting it out of the box and
equipping it with batteries — the V-Bot
is ready for action. The V-Bot comes
with a two joystick controller that also
hosts a number of buttons that prompt
the V-Bot to do everything from karate
chops to transforming between a car
and a humanoid robot.
The V-Bot is no Optimus Prime (its
car form looks something like a cross
between an Xb and a Suburban), but it
certainly sports plenty of attitude. In
addition to the inherent coolness of a
transforming robot/RC car, the V-Bot is
nothing short of a one bot show with
its generous supply of flashing lights
and thumping techno beats. The V-bot
can cruise around at a good speed
in its car form that comes complete
with working headlights, and it’s also
completely driveable in humanoid
form, where it will karate chop
anything in its way.
The V-Bot would even give the
Robosapien or washed up celebrities a
run for their money in a dance-off — it
performs its own dance to its own
music. And if you tire of the V-Bot
dancing to the same old soundtrack, it
has the super cool feature of having an
audio port capable of hooking up to an
iPod. It comes with the necessary cable
and a Velcro strap to keep your beloved
iPod safe, so you could have the V-Bot
dancing or driving around to Muse or
Björk in no time.
The humanoid form does not real-
V-BOT BOX.
V-BOT CAR.
V-BOT — GOOD AS NEW.
SERVO 01.2008 61