SXSW Interactive 2010
With less than two weeks to go before this year’s Interactive, it’s time to get connected. Latest news | Full coverage | Follow Omar G. and Austin360’s Interactive coverage on Twitter | Send us tips.
Austin360 blogs > Digital Savant > Archives > 2009 > September > 25 > Entry
My robot dreams, which conflict with certain realities
A man has dreams. Fantasies. Sometimes those fantasies involve controlling a powerful robot. Who could blame a man for that?
Last week, I got an invitation to go see a new product called U:bot being rolled out by Games2U, an Austin-based company. Games2U has grown quite a bit since we wrote about them in June. They now have franchises in 20 states for their mobile gaming trucks, which bring Xbox, Wii and PlayStation 3 games to parties.
The company is expanding its wares (hey, giant hamster balls!) and the new robot sounded exciting. The company created the 6’8” robot itself at a cost of about $10,000 per robot. But that was all secondary to the promise that I would get to enter the robot and control it, shooting lasers and talking in a sexy robot voice. (“Hey ladies: let us breakdance, at which moment I will perform the robot. Bleep bleem 011101.”)
It sounds better in robot-speak.
By the time the actual event rolled around, I had full-on “Iron Man” delusions of grandeur. Could I figure out a way to fly the robot, perhaps to a tropical island where I would defy natural law by finding a way for a robot to get a tan?
When I showed up at Games2U’s northwest Austin headquarters, the robot was under wraps in a large warehouse area. Kids were gathered, giddy with excitement, and that should have been my first clue that something might be amiss. Who lets kids near a destructive force of robotic justice? They were going to cramp my crime-fighting style!
And then, I got hit with the bombshell: the robot is meant for kids and to climb inside the robot, you have to be below a certain height. That certain height is shorter than me. It looked like a small, child-sized space in there.
I could have wept. My robot dreams were dashed. O, cruel genetics!
I watched several kids climb into the robot and drive it around, controlling the U:bot with a joystick inside. The robot can fire off fog, shoot simulated lasers and modulate your voice to make you sound like a robot. (“Ha ha, Omar, you are too tall, bleep bleep 011101.”)
Games2U co-founder David Pikoff told me that the robot is part of a line of new products they’ll be rolling out in the near future. That’s great, but might I suggest a new project? A robot twice as big, built for the discriminating adult who dreams of being a gigantic, awe-inducing robot.
I think it would do really well.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment Categories: Austin, Gadgets, Videogames
Comments
Austinites love to be heard, and we're giving you a bullhorn. We just ask that you keep things civil. Leave out the personal attacks. Do not use profanity, ethnic or racial slurs, or take shots at anyone's sexual orientation or religion. If you can't be nice, we reserve the right to remove your material and ban users who violate our Visitor's agreement. Click here to report comment abuse.
By Omar Gallaga
October 9, 2009 1:21 AM | Link to this
Thanks for taking the time to read and comment on my horrible blog.
By me
October 8, 2009 11:49 AM | Link to this
Your blog is horrible... why not rename it the iphone blog? Or "I think the iphone is awesome, even though 85% of you don't own one." Seriously, how about something more than phones? But in all reality, that's probably as deep as your "tech-savvy" goes.
Later Losers!