Product Description

Roboraptor is a predatory dinosaur robot with instincts to match his wild technology! His mood determines his behavior. He'll go into predatory mode, nervous and cautious mode, or into a friendly, playful mode depending on how he wakes up. Laser tracking system allows you to draw his path to the prey, and he'll follow it. He loves to play tug of war, and he's sensitive to his environment, so he'll stay away from table legs. Requires 6 "AA" batteries (not included) and 3 "AAA" batteries for the remote (not included). Measures 32"L x 11"W x 9"H. (Measures 32" from head to tail.)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #35818 in Toys & Games
• Brand: Wow Wee
• Model: 8095
• Released on: 2006-06-12
• Dimensions: 11.81" h x 10.24" w x 32.87" l, .2 pounds

Features

• With his advanced artificial intelligence personality, realistic biomorphic motions, direct control and autonomous behaviors, the age of the dinosaur has truly returned.
• Fluid bi-pedal motion: walking, running and predatory gaits. Realistic body movements: turning head and neck with whipping tail actions. Three distinct moods: hunter, cautious and playful.
• Multi-sensory: touch sensors in his tail, chin and tongue. Sonic sensors can detect the location of sharp sounds. Infra-red vision system detects objects in his path or approaching (when he is stationary).
• Playful Jaws that play pulling games. "Laser" tracking technology: trace a path on the ground with the remote and he will follow it. Visual and Sonic guard mode. Responds to commands from Robosapien V2.
• 8 and Up

Editorial Review
Evidence that the robotic dinosaur revolution is spreading, this Roboraptor comes fully assembled and ready to roam the earth with his robotic dinosaur cousins. He has movable arms, a swiveling head, a sweeping tail, and a chomping jaw full of pointy teeth. Measuring 32 inches from nose to tail, the Roboraptor is a big enough to intimidate any smaller predator that may come along. While this raptor hasn’t yet developed his full hunting skills, he’s still a lot of fun and comes with over 40 preprogrammed functions, three distinct moods, and the ability to detect things in its path with infrared vision. He also comes equipped with automatic shutoff and a demo mode. Roboraptor is steady on his feet, but works best on smooth, hard surfaces. --Heather Lyndon

From the Manufacturer
Dinosaurs are back and roaming the Earth in the 32" long Roboraptor. An advanced fusion of technology and wild individuality.

Customer Reviews

A Great 'Interactive' Toy - Not For Couch Potatoes
First of all, I should make it clear that I am definitely a nerd, and have had a passion for all things robotics since about the age of 10. My home office/den is full of robotic toys and half completed construction projects. When a new robot, or robot toy, hits the market rush out to see it in action, and if it looks halfway decent, then it's going to come home with me - no question. Of course, after a month or two it earns a place of honor and regular use, or it will end up gathering dust on the shelf.

I'm very happy to say that the Roboraptor has already proved itself to be worthy of a place near the top of my robot collection. It was a ton of fun right out of the box - though getting it out of the box was a major challenge. My wife and I popped in the batteries, put the Roboraptor down on the floor, and immediately started having fun. It was the first time, in a long time, when we actually turned off the television and played with a toy together for a couple of hours.

The next morning (Saturday) we set Roboraptor loose in roaming mode to see how our dogs would react to it. It turned out to be a perfect test of what the toy is capable of. As our dogs moved around, barked, and tried to attack the Roboraptor, it would sense their movement, and hear their barks. There is no question that our dogs really believe that the Roboraptor is another animal.

That afternoon we let it roam around upstairs and videotaped it exploring the rooms, poking into the corners, sniffing everything, and getting into a fight with a metal coat rack. We laughed so hard, and enjoyed it so much that we had to share the videos with our friends on our "Robot's Dreams" blog.

Why were we so successful, when other people have had negative experiences with the Roboraptor. I think there are a couple of factors.

1- Since we ordered it online and had to wait for it to arrive, we spent the time to carefully read the online manual, and posts by users on the internet.

2- We used only fresh batteries.

3- We had a lot of experience with other robot toys, especially the Robosapien - even to the point of developing a PC based remote control program for it.

4- We really wanted to see what the Roboraptor's roaming mode could do, and how it would react in a dynamic, interactive environment. If you just turn it on and let it sit there expecting that it will entertain you - it's probably not the toy for you. But, if you actually play with it, move around, try to approach it, touch its tail, etc. it's a lot of fun. The sessions with our dogs really taught us a tremendous amount about what the Roboraptor is capable of - and gave us lots of things to talk about, and wonder about, for days.

5- Our house has hardwood floors, and doesn't have alot of clutter - except in my den. I'm sure that the Roboraptor won't do as well on heavy carpet. He also seems to do very well in hallways or rooms with a lot of flat vertical surfaces like bookcases or solid chairs. But, as you might expect, he has problems with thin chair legs and picture windows.

Is it going to teach you, or your child, a lot about robotics? Probably not at a technical level. That's why I gave it a 3 for educational value. Still, if it inspires curiousity and interest in robotics, then it's well worth the price.

Would I recommend it?

Yes - absolutely, if you like interactive toys and are willing to spend a little time figuring out all its different modes.

No - if you expect to turn it on, sit back, and expect it to do everything by itself. This great toy is definitely not for couch potatoes.

Robo Rocker/it's plenty of fun, if you're not expecting the moon
This is a review of the Roboraptor in two parts. The first part (below) was written by the purchaser and owner, my 8-year-old son Robin. The second part (below that) was written by me, Jack Holcomb. Since we used both the Amazon and Radio Shack reviews while we were researching this toy, we're posting this review to both forums.

***

Robo Rocker
by Robin Holcomb

I love my Robo Raptor. My favorite part about the Robo Raptor is the Roam mode, which means that it moves on its own. It's cool because it's kind of like a real cyborg animal. I like to do fights using the remote control with other toys, like my giant robot Mars Super Fighter. I would like to buy some army men for it to munch on.

I think the good reviews were completely right and the ones that say "this is just a piece of junk" were completely wrong.

***

OK, so that's Robin's take on it. I want to add a few details to what he said.

Robin first became aware of the Roboraptor when he saw it at Toys R Us, over a year ago. For one birthday, one Christmas, and another birthday, it was the first item on his want list. Given the expense and our family's previous bad experiences with expensive remote control robots (they didn't work as advertised, they were played with for an hour then forgotten until yard sale time), Robin's mother and I weren't inclined to go that way again. We explained this to Robin, but he kept asking for it. Finally we told him before his most recent birthday that if he saved all of the birthday money he'd be getting from extended family, he would almost certainly be able to afford it. So that's what he did.

Once he had the money, we sat down with Robin and the computer and looked at the reviews of Roboraptor on Amazon and Radio Shack. Robin wasn't dissuaded by the generally negative judgment of many of those reviews, and his mother and I decided not to stand in his way; if this turned out to be an expensive lesson for him, well, so be it. He bought it, I helped him get it out of its ridiculous packaging (you need a moderately-sized screwdriver to liberate the poor thing), and I helped him go through the controls once and figure out where to point the controller. From there it's all been his ballgame, and he's had a fantastic time with it.

My own sense is that the long wait, the careful research, and the fact that he did it with his own cash has enhanced Robin's pleasure with this toy, but only somewhat; most of his enjoyment is much more in-the-moment, e.g. making it dine upon his action figures.

I want to emphasize that we never saw any advertising at all for this toy. I get the impression from other reviews that there has been a moderately exaggerated marketing campaign around it. We never saw it, so we never had unreasonable expectations; it looked like a remote control toy, and that's pretty much what it is. I'm not a robot fan, so I'm moderately impressed by how well it navigates in Roam mode--but it's still not what I'd call smart or graceful, and it can get stuck in corners. We have hardwood floors, so we haven't seen the reported trouble with carpets, but it also wouldn't surprise me, given how ungainly the thing is.

A couple of caveats for parents: 1) This thing uses a fistful of batteries, which aren't included. Robin bought his own, but be warned if you're buying it as a gift. 2) There's no mute button, and it's pretty noisy.

Overall we were more pleased than disappointed, but our expectations started out good and low.

Not the pet I was expecting
When I first saw video of the Roboraptor online a few months ago I couldn't wait.
To my dissapointment, Roboraptor is just a "dumb" remote machine.
It has no true Artificial Intelligence, only has four "moods" and cannot do much on it's own.
It cannot stand up if he were to fall down.
It has trouble walking on most carpets and even some hard floors.
For the most part it just walks in place because the foot pads and length of it's gait will not give it enough traction or forward momentum.
When you do get it to move at it's fastest speed you can still outwalk it.
There is no mute button and the thing can be quite noisy.
Some of so called "sensors" on the tail, under the chin and in the mouth are actually buttons that need to be pushed in order to get a response and are not motion activated.

In under 1 week my cool "robotic pet" became something just sitting around the house (albeit he is cute).

I can say that the quality is excellent.

I would gladly have paid up to 1.5 more for something that actually acted more like a robotic pet than a remote control machine.