Tribot
item #8042 by WowWee
I would love to give a glowing review of this robot, but alas poor Horatio, I cannot. I bought this poor guy on Woot.com during one of their famous Woot-Offs as a new unit. When he arrived, I eagerly unpackaged my new friend-to-be. Half an hour later (yes, it did take that long to remove all of the packaging the company used to keep him from escaping), I was able to play with him for about three minutes. After that, his headlight started flapping up and down in time with his eyebrows in a continuous loop. After searching the net, I found that this is a known issue. No big deal. I bought it new so it should be under warranty. Right?
Wrong. According to WowWee's support line, only items that are sold through WowWee authorized dealers are covered under their warranty. Silly me, I thought it was the item that a company warrantied - not the dealer. Anyway, Woot is sending me a replacement bot as we speak, so I'll be better able to review him later on.
In the meantime, I can tell you what is available on the WowWee web site. In addition to his entertaining personality, Tribot features free roam mode, where Tribot can explore his surroundings without any user intervention; program mode, where you can store a sequence of movements that Tribot can playback at the push of a button; guard mode, where Tribot will stand at the ready until an intruder is detected at which time he will sound an alarm; alarm mode, where you can use Tribot as an alarm clock with an interesting trick - you have to catch him before you can turn the alarm off; and homing mode, where Tribot will follow you using signals sent from the remote.
Another interesting trick is in the remote - in true WII fashion, you can control Tribot by simply rocking the remote in the direction you want him to go. Seems everybody is trying to make a buck off this Nintendo innovation.
Year Released: 2008
Original Price: $100
Technical Specifications:
Power Supply:
8 x AA batteries (for robot)
3 x AAA batteries (for remote)
Dimensions: 17" tall x 12" wide
Weight: 2 lbs
RF Frequency: N/A (infrared)
