Tue 25 Oct 2005
All I Want for Xmas…
Posted by anaglyph under Geek, Science, Whimsy
[8] Comments
Hammacher Schlemmer is offering for sale a life-size walking and talking remote controlled ‘Robbie the Robot’.
Now there’s the Yuletide gift for the Man Who Has Everything. If any of you have a spare $US49,999.95 I’m sure I can wrangle a big enough Christmas stocking.
I’m sure you all know that Robbie first came to fame in the wonderful Forbidden Planet and has stayed in the zeitgeist ever since. The Hammacher Schlemmer replica offers, among other things the following features:
The robot is pre-programmed to deliver his famous lines from the original movie, and the remote control allows you to adjust the robot’s volume, track selection, and start and stop functions. Robby can also be prompted to move his computer relay assembly, rotate his servo-controlled head, spin his planetary gyro stabilizers, and rotate his scanners while his various lights flash. The integral audio system produces CD-quality sound projected from a directional speaker system in the head and synchronized with the neon tube lights…
He’d be a nice complement to my toaster, dontcha think?
Thanks to the Red Ferret Journal, where I read about this first.
I wouldn’t hold your breath on that Christmas gift. Still, that’s pretty spanking cool.
But will he and the cow get along? Can serve as a robotic phone mediary?
These are the things I need to know…
As I remember Robbie did his thing to a fantastic electronic music/musique concrete soundtrack.
Kind of related: I once saw a replica Dalek on sale in Covent Garden for the sum of £10,000. A riskier buy if it comes to life though…
I don’t understand why it should be so expensive. Aren’t there toys that do the same thing for a tenth of the price?
According to 50’s infomercials, We are all supposed to be flying around in hovercrafts by now and having robots in every home.
What went wrong?
Joe: The Cow is pretty tolerant when it comes to appliances (which includes robots).
Leon: Yes, the unique musique concrete soundtrack for Forbidden Planet was written by Louis and Bebe Barron.
Anne Arkham: I think you must be thinking of some other kind of toy.
UTMG: You mean you don’t have a hovercraft and a robot? Next you’ll be telling me you don’t have a wristwatch tv or a ray-gun!
“My hovercraft is full of eels!”
*Somebody* needed to add it to this thread, is all I’m saying.
Aside to Anne: wait until someone pays that price, then send the link for the better/cheaper one.
Oh, ok. It’s seven feet tall. I don’t have any toys that big.
You can buy Daleks? Where? Point me, baby! That is one more thing to add to my “will-buy-when-I-have-written-a-bestselling-novel” list.
(You know, maybe I should add that list to my blog. Some things on it are kinda cool.)