WowWee Robotics Roboquad
By: Sourcing Network Sales Average Rating: 4.0 Total Reviews: 8
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 On: 2008-06-23
I love Gadgets, but robotic toys have always been a letdown. They did not really live up to my expectations. I had a Robotic Dog that took so long getting through the startup process, the batteries were almost fully depleted by the time you really got to play with it. Quad is different...He is fun to watch, and examines everything! He does need a lot of room, but he is my favorate robot yet. you could even mount a wireless camera on his head and have him roam around the house recording!
The robot also does a pretty cool demo dance! When I bought him, it was about $80.00..a little high....now, I think the price is well worth it. I love seeing how each generation of robots gets better and better and Roboquad shows that the trend continues!
On: 2008-05-17
I really love this toy. it provides me wit hours of involved met. It helps exercise my memory it also helped with my ability to be creative.
by: Anonymous On: 2008-01-08
I got this robot for Chrismas after wanting it for two months. The packaging is surprisingly easy to get off--it only took my father and I about 10 minutes to take the inner box out, destroy all those twisty ties, and unscrew Roboquad from the stand. Its a lot of fun. The only two problems with it were that it was noisy--even on mute, its motors and legs made a lot of whirring, thumping, and squeaking on hardwood floors. The other problem is that you cant cut off a hallway with it in Guard Mode unless it has low awareness, because it keeps detecting the opposite wall and going crazy in high awareness modes. It walks fine on carpet. As an added bonus, Roboquad is fun to look at as well (that head is really cool) so its appealing externally as well. I want a Wowwee Mini Roboreptile for it to interact with. Ill probably add more as I get more experience with it.
On: 2007-12-23
This is a fun toy, but its still a toy. On the plus side, its fun to watch, and it has a lot of pre-programed movements, a number of these movements can be programmed to run in sequence. It has an autonomy mode too, so it can can wander around and do what it wants to do. In manual mode, the robot performs periodic scans and tries to keep its self out of trouble on the way to where you tell it to go. I like the way it looks and moves, and I like that it isnt a cute and fuzzy robot, and I like the different settings for awareness, activity, and aggression that it uses in autonomous mode.
However, its sensors arent good enough to keep it out of trouble all the time. Sometimes it will walk into things and just keep trying to walk. It has trouble in cluttered spaces. I also wish it lifted its legs higher when it moves, so that it could climb over things better, its not going to get from one surface to another if the difference is much more than 1/2". All in all, this is a good toy for a kid, but a little disapointing as a toy for an adult.
As an adult, Id love to have something like this that had better sensory and movement capabilities, and Id be willing to pay more to get them. That way I could play with something like this too.
 On: 2007-12-07
NOTE: I had one use for this Roboquad - that was to put it in Guard Mode.
The red model I got through Amazon to Sharper Image was dumb as a post. No matter what level of aggression I set, I could not get it to respond to anything, including coming up behind it and moving a hand 2 feet in front of its eyes.
I thought maybe this one is defective, so I sent an email to WowWee and went to see the floor demo model at Sharper Image. The one at Sharper Image did the exact same thing - nothing. (They suggested the R2-D2 which did respond a little in its guard mode.) WowWees automated email response said I would have an answer in 2 days. Its been over 7 and no response back. I sent it back.
If you want to program it to dance, or just command it where to go using the remote - this might be a fine robot. But that is not what I was looking for. I saw great fun having it respond to people, even animals, that entered the room. I even saw it guarding the door while we slept. This couldnt do either. Glad I tested it before Christmas. Very disappointing. Im still looking for something fun that can guard.
On: 2007-12-06
I like watching it so much that I havent even opened it up yet. Regardless, Im already looking at ways to mod it or control it differently. I guess thats why the "educational value" is five stars.
It has five control modes: demo, remote, program, guard, and autonomous. Demo is pretty good for when someone asks what it is or does. Youll see it more than you ever intended. Remote control is OK cause you can see how it moves on different surfaces and stuff. Program mode lets you, basically, create your own demo.
As with roboraptor, I use guard mode most. Its best for making people jump. A low awareness setting and placement near trafficked areas is efficient. High awareness is also nice because it seems to wake up every now and then. I wish I could make it scuttle away and then actively hide, but cant. It seems to wake from guard into either autonomous or runs a program. Programs cant send it to autonomous or guard. Oh well.
Autonomous mode is for having it do stuff until the battery runs out. Mostly, I like to watch it play with a roomba. Having roboquad interact with roboraptor is OK for a while, but it isnt really more interesting than a bag of furbies. I wish they could fight. Really fight.
Anyways, when autonomous or guarding, roboquads "personality settings" help determine what it does. These settings are aggression, awareness, and activity. Awareness is basically sensor sensitivity. Activity seems to be the balance knob between scanning and moving. Aggression helps determine how it reacts when it notices stuff. I wish I could program in some reactions.
Overall, I think roboquad is worth the money. Ill probably end up with a few, but dont know if I can use the remote on one without another listening in. I wish I could program it to enter guard or autonomous mode for a time period. Then it could play sentry by marching around, guarding, etc. I also wish it had a charging cradle like my old aibo.
On: 2007-12-05
I like watching it so much that I havent even opened it up yet. Regardless, Im already looking at ways to mod it or control it differently. I guess thats why the "educational value" is five stars.
It has five control modes: demo, remote, program, guard, and autonomous. Demo is pretty good for when someone asks what it is or does. Youll see it more than you ever intended. Remote control is OK cause you can see how it moves on different surfaces and stuff. Program mode lets you, basically, create your own demo.
As with roboraptor, I use guard mode most. Its best for making people jump. A low awareness setting and placement near trafficked areas is efficient. High awareness is also nice because it seems to wake up every now and then. I wish I could make it scuttle away and then actively hide, but cant. It seems to wake from guard into either autonomous or runs a program. Programs cant send it to autonomous or guard. Oh well.
Autonomous mode is for having it do stuff until the battery runs out. Mostly, I like to watch it play with a roomba. Having roboquad interact with roboraptor is OK for a while, but it isnt really more interesting than a bag of furbies. I wish they could fight. Really fight.
Anyways, when autonomous or guarding, roboquads "personality settings" help determine what it does. These settings are aggression, awareness, and activity. Awareness is basically sensor sensitivity. Activity seems to be the balance knob between scanning and moving. Aggression helps determine how it reacts when it notices stuff. I wish I could program in some reactions.
Overall, I think roboquad is worth the money. Ill probably end up with a few, but dont know if I can use the remote on one without another listening in. I wish I could program it to enter guard or autonomous mode for a time period. Then it could play sentry by marching around, guarding, etc. I also wish it had a charging cradle like my old aibo.
On: 2007-11-09
This product is pretty down right cool. It is quality built. Top quality in my opinion. We are for sure moving forward in eventually having an intelligent robot. No, its not the robot from the I ROBOT movie, but you sure can start to see the development of the basic systems at work. It truly would not take much to have this seem like a very real mechanical pet. Of course we are a few years from that, but the sparks are there. If you like robots and you like remote controlled devices and you are willing to spend the time to work with it, it is for you, for sure.
On: 2007-10-05
Much more fun than last years RoboReptile, the Roboquad dances and seems more pet-like. Plus there are a wide variety of ways to control it. Ill be posting more as I play with it.
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