The Japanese toy manufacturer Tomy has announced its QFO – a small radio-controlled flying toy that was recently displayed at the 2008 Tokyo Toy Show in Japan.

There isn’t much info available about this new little gizmo, but Andrew Liszewski over at the great OhGizmo gadgets and design blog managed to find this video shot by DigInfo, showing the flying R/C “helicopter” in action and giving some info:

Four types of Tomy QFO R/C toys are scheduled to be released at the end of September. There is no word on pricing yet.

(Akihabara News via OhGizmo)

The Japanese toy manufacturer Tomy has released an updated transparent plastic version of their popular radio-controlled R2-D2 mini action figure.

With the mini-lightsaber remote, R2-D2 will move forward or turn on command, rotate his dome as he rolls, beep and whistle, and illuminate his photoreceptor “eye”. R2-D2 measures approximately 2.5 inches tall, and includes batteries for the remote and the droid himself.

What makes this one extra special is the transparent plastic of both the figure and the remote control, showing the inner workings…

Here’s a short video demonstration of the previous model:

The new Transparent R/C R2-D2 Action Figure by Tomy is available for $24.99 from the official Start Wars Shop.

The Japanese toy manufacturer Tomy today announced the debut of an innovative “sensor” technology for its forthcoming AI Tech Racing brand, featuring the ability to detect and avoid obstacles, and negotiate turns and corners without input from the user.

Unlike traditional “slot” cars and similar vehicles that are guided by grooves or “slots” in the track on which they run, AI Tech Racing can be enjoyed on or off the track. Available sets include individual cars, accessories, race set featuring a custom track piece and a deluxe version. The included remote control allows users to control the speed of the vehicles including turbo speed to pass their opponent while obstacles and barriers increase the fun and difficulty.

You will be able select from an assortment of six individual cars each with unique designs and graphics with an SRP of $12.99. The cars and remotes each require two AA batteries and all vehicles come with decals for customizing.

For those racers that want it all – track, accessories and two cars – the AI Tech Racing Race Set features everything needed to build an exciting course for a suggested retail price of $39.99. For $10 more, the Deluxe Race Set takes AI Tech to the next level with 18 pieces of track and six obstacles. Finally, the Ultimate Deluxe Race Set is the quintessential racing kit with 29 track pieces, electronic lap counter, two exclusive cars and much more – all for $99.

The AI Tech Racing by Tomy is set to hit retail shelves in fall of 2008.

Video footage of i-SOBOT, the world’s smallest mass produced humanoid robot, in a no holds barred battle up against Godzilla:

While many celebrate the triumphant arrival of Takara/Tomy’s tiny humanoid robot upon American shores, a disturbing development comes with it. All across the USA, i-SOBOT fight clubs have been forming. These clubs have only one dark purpose; to pit hapless i-SOBOT robots against wild, primitive and aggressive creatures in caged death matches where the audience wagers on who will live and who will die! RobotsRule managed to get live video of one of those matches and several tragic photos too.

Check out i-SOBOT Fight Club: The Shocking Truth! for more pics and info.

Thanks to Robert Oschler at Robots Rule!

The Japanese toy manufacturer Tomy has created a follow-up to their Walkiebits, a dancing miniature robot turtle released in 2005.

The Rhythmbits dances to music by wagging its tail and moving forward and backward in response to high and low-pitched sounds.

The Rhythmbits robot is small enough to fit in a child’s hand and is manipulated by infrared light from a nearby controller. This controller can differentiate high sounds from low sounds and sends signals for the turtle to move forward or backward depending on the pitch.

The turtle will dance to sounds from a music player or television, or a person can speak in high and low tones to control it verbally.

Rhythmbits is available in six colors and costs 1,575 yen (about $14 USD).

(Via Prylfeber)

The Roboco robot pet from Tomy is now available at AudioCubes for $17.

This little square robot dog (or cat, whichever you prefer) is the new Tamagotchi. Roboco acts just like your pet. It eats, sleeps, needs attention (a little patting on the head will do) poops and gets sick too. When it’s happy (just pat it twice on the head), Roboco will sing you a little tune. Don’t ignore it or it’ll get angry at you. Reacts to sound… Collect all 6 and see them behave with their own unique character.

Here’s a short commercial for the tiny robot pet:

Roboco is available in blue, dark blue, green, pink, white or yellow.
Here’s TakaraTomy’s Japanese demo website for the Roboco robot.

This official Tomy/Takara i-SOBOT video shows the tiny talented humanoid robot doing flips, talking, and gives a brief overview of several of its features:

In other i-SOBOT news the official i-SOBOT web site now has some of the Japanese web pages up; still waiting on the English language pages. Also, Amazon has changed their quoted expected delivery date for preorders from October 22 to October 10 to 24. This may be a sign that the robot will ship earlier than previously expected.

Thanks to Robert Oschler, Pleo Dinosaur and Robots Dreams.

i-Sobot $299.99, the world’s smallest robot, is now available for pre-order.
The tiny humanoid from Tomy, a Japanese toy merchandise company, is expected to start shipping in October.

The i-SOBOT is fully functional and features 17 custom designed actuators and gyro-sensor that allow it to keep balance and freely move joints for impressive performance, vivid movement, and incredible flexibility.

Robot includes speaking vocabulary of over 200 words and phrases and more than 200 pre-programmed movements. It’s designed to follow up to 10 voice commands and is ready to go right out of the box.

Here’s a video demonstration of the cool little robot:

More video clips at SlashGear | Official i-Sobot website