WowWee’s New Roboscooper Toy Robot Is WALL-E With a Different Name

Designing new toy robots is hard...unless you have a major motion picture to base them on. WowWee produces award winning robots for work and play. Their latest creation looks really cool. And by "really cool" I mean "an exact copy of WALL-E". WowWee's new Roboscooper is a human-like robot with arms that autonomously rolls around and picks up objects, storing them on its person. Sound like anybody to you? You can also control Roboscooper with a remote, and like many toys from WowWee it comes equipped with a lovable personality and witty remarks. Retailing for around $70 and set to be released this month, the Roboscooper is probably the closest you'll come to having a fully functional WALL-E of your very own. Check out more pictures below.

WowWee's no stranger in the retail robot business. We've seen it explore practical applications like telepresence (with Rovio) and fun hobbyist platforms (Femisapien). Their new Roboscooper is somewhere in between. It can wander around your house looking for objects with its four IR sensors, autonomously picking up odds and ends like some sort of miniature maid. But the weight restriction (it can't lift more than about 1 oz) and the appearance of the bot makes me think it's built to be more lovable than useful. And what could be more lovable than WALL-E? The Roboscooper probably wasn't meant to be a direct rip-off of Pixar's blockbuster hit, but you have to think that customers will see and enjoy the resemblance. I certainly think Roboscooper looks cute. And it has one feature WALL-E doesn't: give it the right command and it goes into "whack" mode ready to bat things around with its big arms. Sounds a little too close to "kill all humans" mode, but hey, what's fun without a little risk, right? I'm sure WALL-E would agree.