We all love a good puppet show. From the simple but spectacular Wayang Kulit of Indonesia to the humongous mechanical puppets of Hollywood, there’s something for everyone. Now you can own a piece of that high tech puppetry, thanks to the folks at Hammacher.
Hammacher of New York, in similitude to Harrods of London, continue their trend of being the first to introduce high tech wonders. The Emotive Robotic Avatar is no exception. This little guy reminds us of the cute Gadgebots from the Ratchet and Clank series. The Emotive Robotic Avatar makes use of eye expressions, antenna colors, body language, and the digitally modulated voice of its operator to convey a total of five emotions – happy, confused, angry, sad, and embarrassed. The puppet is remotely controlled by the operator using a tablet PC and accompanying stylus from a distance of up to 30′ away. You just do not control it, you also become its ears and eyes through the onboard microphone and pinhole camera.
The robot stands on an integrated stage which conceals 19 motors, and also houses two speakers, through which your modulated voice is played. Take all that and throw in a bunch of multicolor LEDs, and you’ve got a product which will be a hit at any party. Forget attached strings and getting tied up, this is the future. So break out those styli and let the puppetry begin!
Be warned though, the robot will set you back a cool $65,000. For that money, the puppet is built to order and comes with a lifetime guarantee. A must-have for any crazed puppet collection. Head over to Hammacher to bag one and don’t forget to show us what you’re doing with it.
Check out other instances of when puppets ran amok on Walyou with this Kermit the Frog X-Ray and the Fujitsu Social Bear Robot.
