Mere days after Sega's frankly scary attempt to sell a robot girlfriend, the toys branch of the company is back at it with a slightly more useful mechanoid, albeit only just.
The Hasbro-made A.M.P/Automated Music Personality robot goes on sale in Japan in November for a hefty ¥80,000 (£380), promising to add a touch of robotic entertainment to music listening in a similar way to Sony's ghastly Rolly device.
Loves music
At 73cm tall, the two-wheeled A.M.P. has plenty of room for speakers, which is why its designers have packed in a hefty 12W 5-inch main speaker in the chest and two tweeters in the shoulders.
Like the aforementioned Rolly, A.M.P. moves around whatever surface it's on in time to the music fed to it. That can come from more or less any MP3 player that will fit in the slot on its back.
Stop following me, you freak
Like any self-respecting frivolous gadget, A.M.P. also has a range of modes to choose from, allowing it to stay put, follow you around or just make sure the speakers are facing you.
Should you feel frisky, there are DJ-style turntables on the robot's hands to allow you to tinker with the tunes, although power requirements that mean the device eats through nine batteries in just ten hours suggest keeping that to a minimum might be wise.
With motion sensors, an obstacle-avoidance system and 14 touch sensors, to name but a few selling points, A.M.P. is clearly a feature-rich, high-end gadget but, as with Rolly, we still have to wonder what the point is. Let us know if you find out, ok?
