R2-D2

R2-D2 Home Theater System

Filed under: Gadgets

About a year ago, Hammacher Schlemmer debuted an R2-D2 robot. But while cute and responsive to all sorts of commands, he wasn't much more than a novelty. Their latest R2-D2 is a lot more functional. His head holds a DLP projection system that can project movies, TV shows, images, and video games from his radar eye at 1024 x 768 resolution. One of his mechanical arm housings in the front of his body has a DVD/CD player and his anterior vents rotate to reveal a docking station that fits most iPods so you can play music or videos through his two 20-watt built-in speakers. He has a variety of other audio and video related functions and comes with a mounted model of the Millennium Falcon that conceals a remote. He sells for $2,799.95.

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Tags: gadget, home theater, r2-d2, star wars

Your Own R2-D2

by Anne Metz (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Decor, Gadgets

First there was the Japanese robot dog. Then there was the robot cat. Now there is a voice-activated robot R2-D2, the lovable little droid from Star Wars.

R2-D2 is a motorized replica of the original spirited bot, which can respond to more than 40 voice-activated commands. Using an infra-red sensor, 'D2 can roll around your house, search for intruders, play tag, answer simple 'yes' or 'no' questions, and dance to the famous cantina music from Star Wars. He may not be able to help save the universe, but he can still blink his lights, swivel his dome top and blast those memorable happy robot sounds. Standing 15 inches tall, R2-D2 weighs in at 6 pounds.

Now that popular culture's most beloved android friend has been memorialized in the form of a workable replica, I have to wonder which robot will come next? Personally, I'm hoping for Rosie -- the Jetson's helpful maid robot, the perfectly-programmed-hausfrau who leglessly rolled about, dusting and tidying wherever she went. Ah, dare to dream, I guess. Price: $119.95.

Tags: andoids, Jetsons, R2-D2, robots, Star Wars, StarWars