If you're like me, your first reaction to this little robo-pooch was, "But he hasn't got any ears". I don't know why that's so important to me, but there you go. It isn't like I look at humanoid robots and think the same thing.

Maybe it's a trend - the robo-dog thing, not the ears. Sony's very expensive robotic dog got scrapped, and now a lot of cheap models have popped up. This little guy is only $50, which is a far cry from a thousand bucks. That probably means he doesn't do as much, or doesn't do it as well, or maybe it doesn't mean anything of the sort. Maybe it just means he doesn't play music and dance. It's kind of creepy when a robotic dog plays music and dances.

So what does the Wow Wee Robopet do, besides cock his earless head at a funny angle for photographs? He can walk, run, sit, lie down, get up, and roll over. (Yeah it would kind of stink if he could lie down but couldn't get back up again. "Come on, Rover, play alive! You can do it, boy!")

He can perform tricks and is trainable. He also responds to human movement. Maybe that means he will chase you and bite your ankles if you run away. He makes four different doggie sounds, which is a lot better than playing bubble gum pop and doing very un-doglike things.

He doesn't wet the carpet or chew on things and probably doesn't chase cars or cats. He does need nine whole batteries to run - six AA and three AAA. It would have been so much cooler if they'd made him rechargeable. The more expensive robotic dogs were not only rechargeable, but they had sense enough to know how to recharge themselves. Now that's a good dog.

Wow Wee Robo Dog

Posted by Rhonda.