WowWee Robosapien V2 Reviews

• GREAT TOY!!!

  
  By A14S44ZD2EM659 on 2006-02-23
  Wow, this toy is great! I am eleven years old and I think you should buy this! I will write about it in the following.
  
  First of all, this toy is PURE FUN! I love how it never gets boring because there is SO MUCH STUFF IT CAN DO! I love having it guard the hallway, and then having it tell me how many times that there was an intruder. And its walking isn't bad at all, I use my robot on carpet and it works great for me! The only thing is walking backwards, it barely moves when it walks backwards. I give this toy 5 stars for "fun"!
  
  This toy has a great educational value. There is so much stuff to learn and get the hang of, like what shift buttons to press and which combos to do. Also, programming it is very educational. This toy gets 5 stars for "educational value"!
  
  For a robot, this thing is pretty durable. It is sturdy and doesn't break when it falls or bumps into something. I gave "durability" 4 stars because of his head. His head seems to be very fragile and is knocked around easily!
  
  Now, some things to take note of:
  
  When (if) you purchase this toy, be sure to make sure that you have a pretty BIG ROOM for it that doesn't have alot of LARGE OBJECTS. This is because on "free roam" mode, the robot can bump into things easily (but his sensors touch the surface and then he goes around the object).
  
  Make sure that the room(s) you decide to use RoboSapien V2 in have exebtionally GOOD LIGHTING. In my family room, I have an overveiw light and lamps, I prefer the lamps and the robot works great with both. Just use the thing you like the most (lighting wise) and see if RSV2 works in it. You will beable to tell if he can't because he will say "lighting to low..."
  
  One more thing. This guy takes alot of EXPENSIVE BATTERIES. 6 D's and 7 AAA's. Be aware of that. He has a 4-6 hour lifespan, so batteries will be used up quite a bit.
  
  I just told you about the cons of this toy. BUT, don't be sad that the toy has cons because it only has THREE CONS. It has over ONE HUNDRED PROS!!!
  
  I totally recommend this toy all in all! Enjoy!
  
  

• COOLEST Christmas Gift yet!

  
  By A1K6JNS5W99IVE on 2006-02-10
  We bought this robot for our 9.5 yr old Son. had seen it on a shopping network but bought it at best buy. It was very pricey and my husband was skeptical. However, after opening the package, which was a bit hard even with the 2 of us on Christmas eve, we tried it out. It was absolutely cool. The eyes follow you around and says really funny comebacks when you scare him too many times. We were laughing so hard.
  
  Christmas morning, my son was so excited to see this and the robopet under the tree. It is a great deterrant for the console games since he had to figure out this robots codes to do all kinds of tricks. The codes are quite difficult but not anymore difficult than sitting in front of a console game for hours till they figure it out. Its challenging but when he did figure it out, he was very happy showing us how he programmed it to do several things.
  
  Its educational because our son has to think and get hand eye coordination much like a video game. This is the same as a scientific robotic experiment. Its very complex with so many programmable capabilities. I wouldnt advise someone who isnt patient with difficult and time consuming programming. Some people may not be able to get used to the button codes. He picked up things quite well when they are placed on a box near the robots knee. These are things one must experiment and have a creative mind for. Calculating where the robot will throw his bowling ball to set up the pins is also a creative problem solving area. The falling down happened when he was on carpet. He walked and turned just fine on our kitchen linoleum floor.
  
  I think alot of the time, people want Robots to automatically do everything without any enteraction from humans. That would just be a demo toy then with no creative touch to it at all and quickly become bored with it. Something alot of people complained about with the earlier Robosapien. I didnt want to get a toy that my son would be bored with.
  
  Robosapien V2 is a major hit here at our house. My son played with him the whole day and I was more afraid that he would run his batteries down before any of the family got to see him. The batteries did last a good while tho. My husband was so excited about this toy that he was showing it off to family friends.
  
  Its about time they come out with such neat robots!
  
  

• Don't Waste Your Money

  
  By A2H2103EK0LHIC on 2006-02-02
  I can't believe that Wowee would release such a defective product after their success with the original Robosapien. This robot can't even walk for a very long period of time without falling down - despite the multiple "gait" modes. It just doesn't work. At first, I thought I just had a bad product until I went to one of the retail stores and tried several of their display models, all with the same defects. All of them fall when walking for a very prolonged period of time and complain about a "bad actuator", especially when trying to turn around or change direction (BTW - this product is not available ONLY on line). Also, when they fall, they scratch and break. Not long after getting him out of the box (this took at least 45 minutes because of the ridiculous amount of wire used to hold him in the box.), he fell and cracked his helmet.
  
  Also, the camera sensors do not work most of the time, unless you are in bright light - really bright, almost spot light. The new design of the hands make it very difficult if not almost impossible to pick up anything.
  
  My guess is that Wowee tried to push out a few models for the Christmas rush and in the process, incorporated a lot of logic/mechanical flaws. I ended up returning mine and getting a refund, even though it was a gift.
  
  Stick with the original unless you just want an expensive hack toy. It's much cheaper and works much better, even if it is a first generation robot. I would give it zero stars, if possible.
  
  

• worst toy ever

  
  By on 2006-10-30
  sure the robosapien was a hit,but the robosapien v2 is just a piece of crap,you need to have it on a special kind of floor to make it walk
  it cant sit down or get up right,dont buy i bet they hired people to make it look good,and bowling? do i really need to go into this? his hand precison is the same as the first one as he only tries to pick toys up from two differnt modes of pickup for each hand,DO NOT BUY,get a aibo instead as altough they are alot of money atleast they do not cause this much trouble (inless you get a defect one,no machine is perfect)
  
  

• IT STINKS!!!

  
  By A3QCLHMWXBNZYP on 2006-11-29
  it couldn't walk w/out falling. i tried it on hardwood and carpet, still keeps on falling. walking backwards was even worse. it wasn't what i expected it to be.i was expecting a more sophisticated technology and all i got was a piece of crap. i consider it to be "dumb".
  oh, the dancing, the burping and the farting? it's fun but i don't think it should cost that much...this thing can't even pick-up anything...i gotta hand it to him. what's the fun in that?
  we played w/ it for 20 min. after how many falls, i made-up my mind...i'm sending it back for a full refund.
  
  
• Not impressed at all. Will be returning to the store
  By A1VL6XFRL2NALY on 2006-12-16
  I initially thought this robot would have better sensing capability, and also thought it would react to voice commands and would appear somewhat intelligent. But I realized this is just waste of money. If you're above 15 years, you will definitely get bored with this robot in an hour or two. Many Problems:
  1) The vision system is not even close in recognizing things. They claim to recognize the bowling ball, and the bowling pin (comes with the kit) and it very rarely does. General household lighting conditions are too low for any image recognition. It needs really bright light. I even tried setting the white balance correctly the the indoor yellow lights. Doesn't work well. Very rarely recognizes the color of the bowling pins or the ball.
  2) Errors out (force feedback error I guess) when trying to pick up things (it's own bowling ball) constantly.
  3) The floor can't even have any rugs, it will trip and fall. It has to be very flat (regular carpet ok, as long as it is not too soft).
  4) Doesn't do anything useful. I thought the hands would be much more sensitive when you try to give it things. But it doesn't recognize.
  5) They will tell you that it will pick up the ball. But then you have to very accurately place it. Otherwise it will hold the ball incorrectly and fail.
  6) Dont' even count on that bowling routine they tell you about.
  7) Sound and Vision programming is confusing. The manual doesn't give any step by step instruction of sound or vision programming. They just tell you how to activate the programming.
  8) Doesn't respond to any voice commands at all. Doesn't have the capability. Worth $80 or so.
  [...]
  
  
• It can bowl!
  By A36PKSMWWCE689 on 2007-09-12
  Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R1A37AVQEISIOC The RoboSapien can identify its bowling ball and bowling pins using a color sensor. Its aim needs a little work, though.
  
  
• An Intriguing Machine at the Dawn of Personal Robotics
  By AVY0GU94KIGHA on 2006-12-10
  This 'bot is intended not just to be a toy, but as a stepping stone toward the long-awaited dream of a personal robot. To truly appreciate such a device, one must not expect it to be capable of doing everything a human can do. Instead, see it as the next step in personal robot evolution. That being said, the robot is capable of many remarkable feats including a degree of vision, hearing, touch, programmability, autonomy, and amusing personality quirks. What is more, I found it 100% reliable; I personally have had no major issues with it at all (the only member of my family that hates it is the cat :D ).
  
  The best part of all the WowWee 'bots is the ability to be "hacked" or modified. The on-line communities for the robots are very enthusiastic and supportive. When you buy this or any of its fellow machines, you are, in a sense, part of a burgeoning robotics subculture that is getting in on the ground floor of something that is strikingly reminiscent of where we were with personal computers in the '70s and '80s. Now is the time to get involved!
  
  I would ask those who claim boredom or dissatisfaction with this product to reexamine their motives for purchasing it. To our disposable culture, anything can become boring after five minutes. My challenge to everyone is to appreciate this amazing device in the spirit in which it was designed. I doubt that anyone will be disappointed then.
  
  
• I don't understand
  By A1KOJ2T0WB1OUP on 2006-10-09
  how anybody could think this toy is worth the money it costs. First: the basics, it cannot really walk well at all. I don't understand if wowwee had special floors in their offices when they tested it or what because on both my carpet or hard wood floor wowwee likes to fall over when you make him turn. Controlling him and moving him around is mildly interesting and he also can track objects that are put directly in front of his face and move slowly. A lot of the moves he done are simply prerecorded sappy movements and sayings that get extremely boring after the 3rd time you do them (some of them are so bad that he loses balance and tips over).
  
  
• Sadly Disappointed
  By A22FE9SU0Y1ZRX on 2007-01-04
  I am the target demographic for this product: a robotics enthusiast with young children who need Christmas presents. I have been eyeing Robosapien with both excitement and skepticism since its 2003 release, and when I saw a new version had been released, I bought it on impulse.
  
  I've been disappointed. Yes, it takes an evacuation team to get it out of the box and requires a small truck filled with batteries, but those aren't important. From my observation, the Robosapien walked poorly on both the hardwood flooring and carpeted surfaces in my house, barely inching forward in either case and jerking precariously all the while. It fell over during its dance and movement demonstrations (and then, to add insult to injury, cried "User error!"). Its interactive vision seemed spotty at best; it followed objects with its eyes, but would then stop and ask, "Where'd it go?" It never recognized faces, waves, etc.
  
  Even assuming all of that had worked out, the functionality didn't deliver as promised. It has many cool motions and catchphrases, but they require complex remote control combinations to activate; they aren't automatic - or interactive - at all. That isn't educational, any more than a television remote that required a dozen keys to change channels would be; it's just frustrating.
  
  In Robosapien's defense, the kids liked the little guy. It was far too complex for them to control - they don't have PhDs - but it was cute and funny.
  
  Perhaps my Robosapien was defective; I returned it and decided to spend the money on better products. My feeling, however, is that this is a product whose time has not yet come; the technology just isn't there yet. Here's hoping it comes along soon!
  
  
• WOWWW
  By A1TJ9BYSILTK84 on 2006-01-19
  I got for christmas. I wanted it so much. I love his dance. (he is doing the robot) Cool color identefication and your hand. just Very cool
  
  
• absoloulty hallarious
  By on 2006-03-04
  this toy is wicked funny i wanted the 1st one but the places i looked did not have it so i had to get this i checked toysrus and they only had roborapter robopet iz mini robosapian and mini robosapian v2 i also checked best buy and they had just about the same thing the last store i checked was circuit city and they had the same thing as the other so i went back to best buy and bought v2 at best buy it was 150 bucks if i went to circuit city i would have spended 250 bucks if you liked the first robosapian you would like this one oh and by the way i wrote a review for kids bop 9 (the review i wrote is called better than the rest
  
  
• Poor Robosapien 2 went through brutal torture and survived!
  By A31G0SNPI3L6EB on 2007-02-11
  I took robosapien 2 to a robotics demonstration at an elementary school a week ago. He performed for 6 hours straight with no battery change! At one point, there were so many kids in the room I could not operate him any longer with the remote control due to loss of line of sight. So I sat back and watched what would happen. Amazingly, he responded so well to the throng of children that I found I did not have to control him at all! They would hold up his pins or his ball and he would ask them for it, give it back, say hi to them, identify them as human and even yell at them if they pushed him too hard. The experience was so real that some parents accused me of having a secret controller hidden somewhere! It was truly amazing to watch Robosapien interact so realistically with the kids completely on his own. WowWee, you are truly genius!
  
  
• Pretty cool
  By A394EQL481M3MS on 2006-12-26
  After reading the reviews, I was scared. I had already purchased the robot. I am glad I didnt cancel the order. I dont think the robot is intended for older kids. My son is 8 and he loves the robot as well as all his other toys. We cant wait to learn to hack it.
  
  
  
  
• Gramps Review
  By A3SOXG4MHOA9TS on 2006-12-29
  I gave this toy to my eight year old grandson for Christmas. It was a joy to see his face light up with a great big grin as he removed the Christmas wrapping from the package. He started to take the package apart with all of the muscle he could muster up and it finally got the best of him. Then came his Uncle to his aid. My son is in his mid 30's and had a heck of a time getting the package apart also. Finally out came the knife to cut it apart and he was able to get all of the plastic packaging from around the robot. Whew...what a job that was, but still the robot was held fast to the inner package...out came the side cutters to cut the wires holding it and little by little he was able to free robo from it's bonds. In the mean time while all of this was going on...I saw that big grin that was on my grandsons face turn to disapointment. That was not a very happy moment for me I must say. I felt like I was the one that caused it buy getting him this robot.
  Finally the batteries were installed and he got to play with it maybe 45 minutes after he first pulled off the wrapping paper.
  It's a pretty cool toy for a kid and makes them think about how to get it to do the different tasks it can do.
  My advice is if you are going to purchase this toy for someone else...take it out of the box first yourself. Give the kid a break.
  
  
• Endless fun
  By A2WN2ATJ0VG729 on 2007-03-05
  We bought the robot for our 4-year-old three months ago. The key is to set your expectations up front. Think what you might get for $[...], which includes R&D, parts and labor, marketing and advertisement and sales commissions. For comparison, just for a high quality vision unit for a hobby robot in Japan enthusiasts are paying $1800+ ( I saw one myself in Tokyo in 2005 ).
  1. Our son was not interested in most of the robot's functions right away. It took time. Also keep in mind that kids do not appreciate the complexity of the toy - they watch cartoons every day and for them it is a usual thing when a toy acts like a human. It was a great toy for adults in the first two months. Three month later he start spending with the robot 20+ minutes at the time on throwing and picking up the ball and other things. His hands are too small for the remote but he manages.
  2. Batteries: we've spent another $[...] on rechargables but so far we had not have to recharge the batteries. Looks like this toy's power management is really good. We turn the robot off promptly upon finishing playing with it and we have not played longer then 15 minutes at the time a few times a week until recently.
  3. Walking: we have pergo on slightly uneven surface and you can see it when robot walks. It does not bother us but the result is the robot does not walk straight.
  4. Controls: very complex and adequate. Too small for very young kids but hey, the box says 8+. Great manual shows all of the commands in three tables. sequencing commands is up to your imagination.
  5. Demo modes: really good and informative. Very good for starting using the robot.
  6. Advanced stuff: we have not programmed the robot so I can not tell you much about this. Looks like it is going to be fun.
  
  
• Fun; for about 3 days
  By on 2006-12-28
  Oh my goodness, when I first got this, i was amazed at the awesome things it could do! Farting, burping, the guard mode, the list never ends! But after I really tried it out and did all of the commands, i found out it was only worth about, what; maybe $90? For the youngsters that are about 8 or 9, this would be a thrill, but as i'm 11, it's a crapchute. Overall, it's fun for about 3 and a half seconds.
  
  
• A lot of fun
  By A2LSJMQS9N0AQV on 2007-01-29
  I bought one of these on sale and have had a lot of fun with it. I haven't had any problems with using him in regular indoor lighting. I really expected him to drain the batteries fast, but he seems to do really well. He has some trouble standing back up on carpeting, but no problems on hard floors. He walks really slow, so don't expect him to race around your house. His throw seems to be pretty wild and for him to pick something up it has to be in just the right spot which can be challenging. The control works more like a tv remote than that of a radio control vehicle. In order for the Robosapien to receive the controls commands you must be in front of him with the control pointed towards his head and no obstructions in the way. WowWee did an excellent job with his physical mobility, with some practice you have a lot of control over the way he movies his head, arms, and upper body. For a toy he is very sophisticated, you don't find this much technology in very many toys!
  
  
• good toy!!
  By on 2007-05-21
  in this review i am going to go over the pro and con of the controller and the robot. the controller. pro: the controller has excellent battery life with normal use. the layout is good to.con: i think that the controller signal range can be better. the robot pro: the robot has very good hand motions and the hips and waist is very functional too. i have given this toy 5 stars in durability because i have only been using it for walking around not for picking up heavy things. con: the eyesight of the robot is not very good. it can see up to about 3 feet but i only use the close range vision.i gave the robot 3 stars in educational because it really isn't educational at all!!i also gave the the robot 4 stars in fun because after a week or 2 you get tired of playing with him!!
  
  
• Very fun toy, Chinese quality
  By A16ODIUKKPTHMR on 2007-11-04
  This toy is very cool but ours stopped working soon after we started using it. It folded itself up and kept the motors running even after it was completely folded over backwards. I had to shut it off. I tried everything. I'm a software developer with a Master's degree in engineering so it's not like I can't figure out a technical problem. This thing is broken.
  
  When mine arrived I could tell that it had been used even though it was newly packaged. It had some scuffs and scratches and it was a bit dirty. I suspect that WowWee is having so many returns on the V2 that they are repairing them and repackage them as new. I bought mine from Target.com via Amazon.com so I'm covered as far as customer service and rapid turnaround on a replacement but WowWee is not a company I will ever trust again.
  
  The ONLY reason that I'm getting a replacement instead of a full refund is because when it works it is one of the coolest toys I've seen and my kid would have a heart attack if we gave up on it.
  
  The technology is great and if you wonder how they could possibly sell these things for under $[...] then look at the label: Made in China. Pick up the hand-held controller and feel the cheapness. Unlike a video game console control that has some heft and fairly thick plastic, the controller looks cheap and feels cheap. It IS cheap. The robot's plastic is OK but the controller is just a piece of junk. Too bad they didn't spend a few more bucks on the controller.
  
  If WowWee built such a cheapo controller that you are going to be holding in your hands and looking at the whole time then imagine the shortcuts they took on quality on the things you can't see. I only pray that they had a software Quality Assurance team that actually looked at this thing before they released it.
  
  We have arrived at an era in which a $[...] toy is a throwaway. Sad.
  
  
• best wowee toy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  By on 2006-08-16
  this is the best toy in robotics I recomend getting it! robosapien V1 is just as good I also have roboraptor keep it up wowee! make robosapien V3 please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and if you don't like this toy go to the mall go to world of health go to lives section and get the like robosapien V2 and be more positive life! please!
  
  
• Took 30 minutes to remove from box WITH WIRECUTTERS
  By A2K3D4H7FEM2GG on 2006-12-30
  Well, I guess I cant give a full review of this product other than saying we spent nearly an hour removing it from the package with all the tape, glue, quad-wrapped 18-GA wire that was taped over and wrapped to plastic strip studs, and cleaning up the sea of wire snippets, huge sharp plastic packaging and taped-to-hell cardboard. I think I counted 100 inches of tape before I gave up. If anything needs a warranty, its this toy as you remove it from the rediculous packaging. A 10-year old would cut right through the Robosapien's wire harness on each arm maybe thinking they were packaging wires.
  
  Eight D batteries and 7 AA batteries prevented us from playing with this toy tonight... $30 for name-brand alkalines won't do; I'm getting rechargeables despite the slightly lower voltage rating. I just hope his interest in it will be more than his Version 1 he got last year...he "fell on it" (whatever that means) after 2 days and destroyed it. Hopefully this is more durable than the V1
  
  
• Cool robot
  By A2O7OF887JD22J on 2007-01-18
  Cool robot toy with a lot of remote combinations to learn. The kids (3,5,7,12) love it when I have the robot do its stuff. The 3 year old treats it as an almost living thing, hugs and kisses, trying to make friends. I haven't explored all its programable features yet.
  
  
• Not Bad
  By A2Z2DTKQX5H6CS on 2007-01-19
  Bought this robot for my nine year old for xmas. He says it is the best gift he has. I will recomended this present for any kid that has time to read the instructions. It takes some time to practice and use all the functions. You must read to obtain full advantage of this product. This is not a real robot but a toy with some advance tech stuff ment for children.
  
  
• The Robot that could
  By A2M0TT1ETKOMCX on 2007-01-19
  This product was purchased for a 10 year old. Its ability to move is amazing, but the controls were difficult for even the adults to understand. My nephew, the owner, is an avid video game player and has great hand-eye coordination, but some of the moves are a little too complicated. While I understand it is not the "robot's" fault that his moves are difficult to control, there could have been a little better description and maybe a snapshot of the necessary button combinations that would have given me a clue about the difficulty. Overall though, this product is amazing - if you have a long time to learn how to use it.
  
  
• Kids do love it!
  By A1JH86L0HFGLP7 on 2007-01-20
  I recently purchase the Robosapien V2, because my son loves robots and he has been collecting them since the first Robosapien came along.
  He spends a lot of time playing with his robots and he even learned to read fast that he could read the manual for himself.
  It is a great toy for independent kids that do like computers and robots.
  
  
  
• My son's Overjoyed
  By A27RF2J13U8QDE on 2007-01-22
  M son who is 11 thinks this toy is great. Getting the Robot to do all of the things that it can do is a little more complicated. It takes a bit of patience to figure out how to program the robot. Though this should also keep my son buy for many hours to come.
  
  
• Why! Robo Sapian is ALIVE
  By A2H1CAHX2EY9JO on 2007-01-23
  I ordered the TOY for my GRAND CHILDREN and now have to keep it from their parents. After 61 years of living and buying gifts, I have now purchased the family gift anyone could hope to give or receive.
  
  From the quality and care AMAZON takes in packaging and shipping products to the excitement of opening the box EVERY aspect of giving this gift has exceeded my expectations. Of course, now having to suppress this over whelming urge to order ONE for myself. :-).
  
  Thank You
  George McMurtrey
  
  
• RSV2 Rocks
  By AR9QLG6W1G1HI on 2007-01-28
  I bought this for my 11 year old daughter and he is awesome. He moves even on carpet, dances, sleeps, guards, flirts, and evn ask for spare change. He is just a wonderful robot. RSV2 is played with for hours on end even though Christmas has past. I give it a 2 thumbs way up. Hey if it can keep my daughter occupied for more then a few minutes its doing something.
  
  
• robosapien
  By A2EQSWZ7CFE5CH on 2007-02-04
  This was purchased for a 6 year old for his birthday I was hesitant at first thinking it might be to advanced, but with a little help he is doing fine with it It is one of his favorite toys It is well made and educational I do suggest rechargeable batteries
  
  

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