I always say that you’re never too young to start with your first gadget. This is an example of that theory, taken maybe a little more serious then I would normally consider reasonable. How old do you need to be to have your first MP3 player? → Read More
Do you like the feeling you get when you break a chocolate bar in half? Do you want to experience that feeling over and over for some reason? Then you’re in the target group for a new Japanese toy called Mugen Chokoreeto [JP], which (kind of) translates back to “Endless Chocolate Bar”. It’s the brainchild of major Japanese toymaker Bandai.
It’s essentially a mini toy made of plastic that looks… → Read More
Just yesterday we featured Bandai’s cool remote-controlled heli-robot Sky Armor, and now the same company (its subsidiary CCP, to be exact) announced the Mission Carrier SWAT [JP], a combination of a truck and helicopter. And this toy is even better than Sky Armor.
The cool thing about the SWAT truck is the sound and the elevating deck: Push a button on the remote to make the panels in the back… → Read More
This is a pretty cool RC toy from Japan. Bandai has announced the Sky Armor, a remote-controlled robot that can fly around using not one but two propellers. The robot stands 17cm tall and weighs 21g. One battery charge (30 minutes) is enough to play with it for 4 minutes. → Read More
Just in time for summer, Japan gets a new toy that won’t require you to go out to get the BBQ experience anymore. This actually doesn’t make much sense, but Bandai has announced [JP] an-indoor BBQ simulator toy yesterday, the Yakiniki Ou (roughly: Grilled Meat King).
Yakiniku is the name of a number of Japanese grilled meat dishes. Buyers of the Grilled Meat King get the grill, 14 fake food items… → Read More
Wiz, the Japanese toy maker behind great stuff like the Flying Ultraman and the consolation money pocket calculator, today unveiled their newest stroke of genius, a mini USB construction site [JP, PDF]. → Read More
Tokyo-based toy maker Wiz today unveiled a remote-controlled mini Ultraman figure [JP, PDF] that is able to fly, just like the original in the legendary super hero series. The so-called Charabot Ultraman will hit Japanese stores at the end of January (price: $35), probably without ever making it outside the country. Wiz says it wants to sell the toy mainly to male adults in their 30s and 40s. The… → Read More
The problem with some of the Japanese gadgets I am blogging about is that they either never become available outside Japan or can only be bought through specialized import shops. But now Bandai America decided to bring its Mugen Puchi Puchi bubble wrap bubble pop simulator to the US. Time to celebrate. The toy, which has been renamed to Mugen Pop Pop in America, features a speaker that rewards… → Read More
Sega Toys Japan introduced a mini planetarium for bathrooms in June (available for people living outside Nippon here) and now updates its super-successful home planetarium series with the Homestar Extra [JP, PDF], which was unveiled today. → Read More
Japanese toy maker CCP has announced the U-Diver, its remote-controlled micro submarine, will be sold in Japan starting at the beginning of next month. CCP isn’t really an international company but belongs to the Bandai Namco group, meaning a future release outside Japan isn’t impossible. The U-Diver, which was showcased for the first time during the Tokyo Toy Show 2008 in June, will… → Read More
Two weeks ago, I blogged about Bandai Japan’s Tuttuki Bako augmented reality-ish toy box, which is due out in Nippon on November 15 (price: $30). Bandai has set up a dedicated web site for the product in the meantime. The site is Japanese only but quite easy to understand. In addition to the strange (but official) video above, a few other clips cropped up in the last 24 hours, visualizing… → Read More
http://blip.tv/play/ih_T1QuJ5FQ Japanese electronics company Elekit is selling a model tank that is operated via a wireless remote control and fires off infrared “cannons”. Up to four of the so-called “Battle Titan” tanks (size: 150×90×165mm) can be controlled simultaneuously, engaging each other in battle. When firing cannons, the battery-powered tanks recoil and make a… → Read More
Tokyo-based Toyo Trading [JP] is selling an alarm clock in the shape of a helicopter, which wakes up users with a tricky mechanism. Unfortunately, the device is Japan-only at this point. At the preset time, the clock launches a rotor up in the air that keeps on flying around while making an extra-annoying engine sound (see Toyo Trading’s promo video below). The battery-powered clock can only… → Read More
Japanese toymaker Tomy Co unveiled Robo-Q, which is what they say the world’s smallest walking robot. The two-legged toy is just 3.4 centimeters high and weighs 12 grams. Robo-Q can detect obstacles and navigate through a maze using built-in infrared sensors. Users can also play games such as soccer with the battery-powered robot via a wireless controller. Charging the battery for 30 minutes is… → Read More
Who needs Augmented Reality Cybermaid Alice? Bandai Japan plans to release a palm-size cube in the middle of next month that lets you stick your finger into it to interact with the beings and things contained in the box. → Read More
Japan’s NICT (National Institute of Information and Communications Technology) is also present at CEATEC 2008 and two of their robots caught my eye, apparently integral elements of their “CareBots Project”. The one you see on the left in the picture above is called Infanoid and is a humanoid that is supposed to resemble a 3-4 year old child (seriously). Infanoid features a number… → Read More
http://blip.tv/play/ih_QtyyJ5FQ Japanese toy maker Takara Tomy announced it will start selling the AeroSpider [JP], a radio-controlled car that can climb walls and drive on ceilings, on October 30 (availability outside Japan is unknown at this point). Just like ordinary toy cars, the battery-powered AeroSpider can also be used on horizontal surfaces. But pushing a switch at the back of the car… → Read More
http://blip.tv/play/ih_M4DaJ5FQ Tokyo-based Taiyo Corp. [JP] is selling a new wireless toy helicopter for indoor use that can be used even in very small rooms. The beginner-friendly, so-called Micro Master HG3, features special sensors that prevent the helicopter from crashing into ceilings by descending automatically right before it would happen. Taiyo claims its the first company in the industry… → Read More
http://blip.tv/play/ih_IiV6J5FQ Here comes another robot fish from Japan. Starting today, toymaker Nakajima [JP] ships “Dynamic Fishing”, a toy kit that consists of an angling rod, a lure and a robotic fish. The set is Nippon-only, but If you are interested and live outside Japan, you can order it via Amazon Japan [JP/ENG] for $27 plus shipping. The fish is passably similar to a real… → Read More
From August 8th, Sega Toys Japan will start selling a robot dog [JP, PDF] specifically designed for children between 4-8 years old. The “Uchi no Suupa Doggu Sakadachi Rakki” (My Super Stand-up-and-beg Dog Lucky) can respond to a total of 13 spoken phrases. Sega Toys said the dog was developed with the voices of around 100 children who helped to improve the speech recognition… → Read More
Fear is the mind-killer. And this thing will kill more than that once the technology is co-opted by the treacherous Harkonnens — or your roommate. This tiny RC copter is available from Thinkgeek for $50 and would work perfectly to administer a dose of lethal poison to a sleeping kwisatz haderach. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, it’s time to read you some Dune! Or… → Read More
Takara Tomy announced they will roll out a mixture between a savings box and an RPG in Japan on August 7th. The so-called “Bankquest” [JP] will cost $37. Players will be able to boost their character’s skills by placing any coin from 1 to 500 Yen into the lid of the box. Takara Tomy says the game will feature more than 160 items (weapons, healing drinks, armor etc.) you can buy. → Read More
Japanese toymaker Mega House announced [JP] they are planning to offer a very special kind of electronic toy beginning August 2nd. The Biri Biri Kaze Hiki Wanko (which translates to “Buzz Buzz Doggy that caught a cold”) will be available only in Japan for $35, for example at Amazon Japan [JP]. In order to play the game, you first have to fill the dog’s head with green slime that… → Read More
Today Sega Toys presented their newest invention, a plastic plant called Pekoppa [JP, PDF]. The plant will stay inactive until someone communicates with it. If you start speaking, the stem begins to bend. The movement is supposed to resemble a human being’s nod. An IC chip placed in the pot is able to identify rythms in human speech. A current is sent through the stem, which bends and… → Read More
Look, let’s cut the bullshit and get straight to the point, shall we? This is a keychain that plays Super Mario Bros. sound FX and has a bright red paint job with an old school Mario logo. It is without a doubt the best $5.99 you will ever spend. Why’s this? Because the next time you get drunk off your ass and stumble out of the freshman dorms at your school, you’ll find a party… → Read More
In the 1997 film Fast, Cheap & Out of Control, documentarian Errol Morris took a look at a variety of eccentric characters whose work blurred the line between the human, the animal, and the mechanical. One of the featured characters was an M.I.T. robotics scientist who had spent his career making machines that moved like bugs. That’s basically the idea behind Wowwee’s latest… → Read More
This conversion toy kit allows you to turn your pop can into some sort of motorized robot bug that vibrates, slides and buzzes (that’s right, I’m from the Midwest. It’s called “pop”). Although the UK company that sells it, Great Gizmos, has yet to put a price or release date, I can imagine it being extremely popular with beer-drinking frat boys and activist recyclers. → Read More
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