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5 Stuff of Dreams, 4 Must Buy, 3 Great Fun, 2 Worth Buying, 1 Pretty Good |
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Amazing robots of today... |
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Pleo |
Robot Dinosaur |
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Every Pleo is unique. Yes, each one begins life as a newly-hatched baby Camarasaurus, but that's where predictability ends and individuality begins. |
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• Develops his own personality.
• Does what he's told.
• Has different moods.
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RS Media |
Multi-Media Robot |
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Fully customizable robot letting the controller (you) take complete control. He has the ability to interact with his environment |
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Features: |
• Chest mounted colour screen.
• Built in speaker system.
• Head mounted camera.
• 4 default personalities.
• PC control editing suite.
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Transformers |
Movie Toys & Action Figures |
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These robots are ace and are much in demand. New movie guarntees that these fantastic toys will be a must for Christmas and birthdays. |
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Features: |
• Transform in various shapes. |
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Homersapien |
Homer Simpson Robot |
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Homer has been turned into a pizza loving robot which has broken records for toy sales. Comes with Simpson style remote control. |
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Features: |
• Says his 'Doh!' phrase. |
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QRIO (Sony) |
Humanoid Robot |
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Sony's humanoid QRIO (formerly SDR) robot dances, reacts to its environment and gets up from a fall. A truely amazing and entertaining robot! |
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Features: |
Can dance, walk, run, throw a ball, avoid obstacles and operates wirelessly. |
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ASIMO |
Humanoid Robot |
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Asimo, an advanced humanoid robot created by the Honda Motor Company. It is in the form of a small astronaut with a backpack. ASIMO is an acronym for 'Advanced Step in Innovative MObility'. Costs to build each robot total just short of $1 million. |
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Features: |
• Can walk just like a human.
• 1200 mm in height.
• Walking speed of 0-1.6km/h.
• Wireless Transmission Unit.
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Robosapien |
Biomorphic Robot |
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This supercool robot looks a bit like a Star Wars stormtrooper on steroids. Designed by NASA robotics physicist Mark Tilden |
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Features: |
• 67 Pre-programmed moves. |
• Infrared transmitter. |
• Can grip obects. |
• Control unit with 21 buttons. |
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Mindstorms |
Lego Robot |
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Those genius toy makers have created yet another fantastic product, The Lego Mindstorms Robot. This is one of the all-time coolest toys, ever! And you build it yourself. Can be programmed using your PC or Mac computer. |
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Features: |
• Can be reconstructed into many forms. |
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Plen |
Roller Skating Robot |
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This little guy is a super cool robot that can skate and has the ability to pick up boxes. Can also be controlled via bluetooth. Plen is made by the Japanese company Systec Akazawa stands 23cm (9 inches) tall. |
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Features: |
• Can skate, even on one leg. |
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Believe it or not, robots have been around for some time. In 350BC a Greek mathematician Archytas built a mechanical bird called 'The Pigeon'. It was one of the earliest studies of flight. Leonardo Da Vinci created a mechanical device which formed the appearance of an armored knight.
From the 15th century highly skilled inventors made mechanical machines called 'automatons' which were all the rage in their day. One of the most famous being the chess playing 'Turk'. A life size mechanical Turkish man who sat at a table, smoking a pipe, and beat every human that challenged him to a game of chess. It was later discovered that he was controlled by a midget underneath the table operating it with levers and pedals. Although the people of the time were completely unaware of this, thinking the machine could think for itself. Unfortunately the original Turk was destroyed in a fire. How it was made is still a mystery.
Another strange robot was 'Golem' a 16th century legend that came alive in the Jewish district of Prague in order to protect that community in times of danger.
Antique robots, especially the early tin ones are highly collectible, the one on the right fetched over $3,000. Along with original box of course.
In 1927 the movie 'Metropolis' was released in which the first female robot called 'Maria' hit the screens. Issac Asimov, in 1940, wrote a series of short science fiction stories which included robots. Asimov is credited with the term Robotics, which was first mentioned in his story 'Runaround'. He also created the Three Laws of Robotics...
1) A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2) A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3) A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
Let's all hope the robots stick to those rules.
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 THE CHESS PLAYING TURK AUTOMATON
 GOLEM
 ANTIQUE ROBOT
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Test your Robot knowledge by having a go at our fantastic Robot Quiz - click here BEFORE looking at the answers below |
THE INVASION BEGINS HERE... |
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These shape-shifting robots are literally flying off the shelves. We compare the best online prices for you. If you buy, they will be with you in no time. |
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Robotic Hall Of Fame... |
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Gort |
The scary robot from the 1951 Science Fiction epic, 'The Day the Earth Stood Still'. |
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Terminator |
Evil robot turning good in the follow up film. Helps to save the human race. Why bother? |
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Dalek - Dr Who |
There is many 40 year old men that will admit to hidding behind a couch when this guy first hit the screens. All they had to do was run upstairs. Great toy! |
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Robby the Robot |
The robot from the 1956 science fiction film, 'Forbidden Planet'. |
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Walter the Wobot |
The robot that could not pronounce his R's. Owned by 2000AD comic character Judge Dredd. Appeared in story 'Call Me Kenneth' where the robots rebelled against their human masters. Robot wars. |
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Bender |
Full name Bender Bending Rodriguez. A type 22 bending unit from Futurama. His father was tragically killed by a can opener. Pastimes include smoking cigars and stealing. |
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Ash |
The 'company' robot that tried to protect the Alien monster in the film Alien (1979). His orders were to 'bring back life form. Priority 1'. Even if it meant the crew were to die. Most did! |
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David |
Main character in film Ai. Life like human boy created by humans for woman who could not have real children. Was programmed to always love his mother. Was abandoned but he never stopped looking for his mum. Very poignant film. |
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Robot B-9 |
Robot B-9 was the robot from the 'Lost in Space' classic TV series (1965-1968). Later made into a film in 1998. |
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Maria |
First female robot to hit the big screen in the 1927 film Metropolis. A sexy robot who became an exotic dancer. |
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C-3PO |
Very well spoken robot from Star Wars. Could speak six million languages. |
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The Iron Giant |
From the 1999 animated science fiction film. A 50 foot steel eating robot who falls from the stars and befriends a boy Hogarth Hughes. |
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Hammerstein |
Member of the ABC Warriors from the comic 2000AD. Appeared in the Judge Dredd movie. |
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K-9 |
The dog robot from BBC hit series, Dr. Who. A favourite collectors' robot. |
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R2D2 |
Also known as Artoo. An astromech droid of the R2 series. From the film Star Wars. Great whistler! |
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Data |
Lieutenant Commander Data to be precise. From hit series Star Trek, The Next Generation. |
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Sonny |
From the film i-Robot starring robot hunter Del Spooner played by Will Smith. |
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Stepford Wife |
Bit of a cheeky one this, but no robot site would be worth its salt if it did not give The film 'The Stepford Wives' a mention. The story is about replacing wives with an exact robot replica, except the robots don't nag. Right guys? |
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Robocop |
Is this the cop of the future? Policeman Murphy is left for dead by criminals only to awake and find that he has been turned into a crime fighting robot. |
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Twiki |
Pint sized robot sidekick of 1970's sci-fi hero Buck Rogers. |
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Sleeper |
Got to be one of the funniest robot movies of all time. Woody Allen wakes from cryostasis and has to pretend to be a robot to escape the clutches of an oppresive future government |
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Rachael |
Voted by many as their all time fav robot, or replicant movie. We're talking Bladerunner of course. Here is perfectly made replicant, Rachael. Who Deckard (Harrison Ford) chose to kiss rather than kill. Who can blame him? |
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Brassneck |
A schoolboy robot from the UK comic 'The Dandy', published by DC Thomson in Scotland. Abilities included telescopic limbs. 1964 - 1984. A fun character indeed. |
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Kryton |
A mechanoid servant member of the crew of the spaceship in the UK hit comedy Red Dwarf. |
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Bicentennial Man |
1999 Film about a robot's 200 year journey to become an ordinary man. Story by Isaac Asimov and starred Robin Williams. |
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Rodney Copperbottom |
Main robot character from the 2005 film 'Robots'. Rodney was voiced by Ewan McGregor. |
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Westworld |
1973 movie starring Yul Brynner about a futuristic theme park. Murderous androids run amok. |
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The Cybermen |
The evil robotic villains from Doctor Who. Originally from the planet Mondas they travel and conquer throughout the universe!!! |
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