What you are seeing here isn’t the latest toy robot from Wowwee, but a concept robot called the Oboe. I’m not certain why this robot is named after a woodwind instrument, because what it does has nothing to do with music.

Anyone care to guess what Oboe’s directive is? If you said “assist the elderly”, then you are half-right. Sadly, the Oboe isn’t designed to be mobile, so it cannot help with cooking or other household chores like the creepy one that lived with Will Smith’s grandmother in the I, Robot movie.

No, the Oboe is designed to stand still like a statue. What good is that? See that ball thing that the Oboe is holding in its hand? It is actually an odd type of hard disk drive that will absorb knowledge and experience of the senior citizen it is living with. This way, after the elderly person passes away, the Oboe will have recorded many of their important life experiences.

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Want to have a toy that goes on and on and on without the use of Energizer or Duracell batteries? That’s not a problem with the Solar Powered Orangutan, although it does look like a carved out piece of Lego from certain angles. All you need to do is set this Orangutan on a piece of string, expose it to some light and voila – it will get to work, climbing up to the very pinnacle according to its ability. You will need some assembly with this toy though, and it will take you approximately 20 minutes to complete the whole setup. The only tool you need? A simple screwdriver. $14.99 is the asking price for this piece of mindless fun.

Considering the fragile state of the economy these days, it is probably good to start saving money. Sure, you could use an old-fashioned piggy bank, but technology always gives us an electrical alternative.

This is where the Robot Money Box comes in. When you put money in the bank, it can actually keep track of how much you put in. I’m not certain how it does this. I doubt it has advanced sensors or anything. Perhaps it can somehow counts as you put it your coins or dollars in.

Another feature that makes the Robot Money box different from your average piggy bank is that it praises you for saving money. Not only that, but you can make target goals for saving, and it will encourage you for making them.

There is one other feature that my source and the Product Page are very vague about. Apparently, the Robot Money Box “may even try to stop you if you try to take anything out”.

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Takara Tomy is one of those rare companies that tend to impress with each release of its product, and the same applies to the latest addition to its stable of robots – the robo-Q. This bipedal robot is extremely small, measuring no larger than your thumb, and yet it possesses enough intelligence to receive and interpret commands from a remote control. The brilliant folks at Takara Tomy have even thrown in obstacle recognition software so that it is able to get around without tripping over all too often. Definitely worth exchanging a Grant for (you’ll get some change in return as well).

Source: Engadget

Sure, everybody loves the Roomba, that lovable little iRobot device that can vacuum a room all by its automated bad self, so it is only logical that someone would create the I-Shovel, an automated robot snow-shovel.

Somehow, the I-Shovel has special sensors which can detect how much snow has fallen in a given area. Once it somehow realizes that there is enough snow to be shoveled, it starts to work and moves the snow around. The battery has enough power for about 4,000 square feet of shoveling, which is more than enough for an average driveway.

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There’s no reason that all robots should be created the same size.  Now you can pick up these tiny little battery bots, that although may not do much, they’re still cute.  If your desk needs a touch more charm, just pick up a couple of these in the different forms they come in and you won’t be able to help but smile at the sight of them.  Although, it might cause you to get distracted from work when you start assembling them into strange formations and flip on whichever function the robot you chose happens to have.

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The Anybot telepresence robot is a videophone with a bit of a difference. The screen and phone are incorporated into a 2 wheeled human sized robot.

Like a Segwat the Anybot uses the same sort of technology to always remain upright even when bending (I’m guessing this is so it can look down on your minions even when you’re away from the office).

It has a top speed of 6 MPH, a built in laser pointer (maybe a gun in later versions), 2 cameras and full duplex audio. It’s a cool idea but somewhat big brotherish IMO.

More info over at AnyBots.

Want to find a way to encourage your child to start the saving habit? Of course, there is no better way to teach the little ones than by your example, but just in case you want to augment your thrifty lifestyle, here is the Discovery Robot In My Room that could go some ways in helping. This smart-aleck talking robot comes equipped with a motion detector and a twisted sense of humor, belting out something funny each time a coin is deposited. It has a repository of over 50 humorous responses, phrases and sound effects, featuring an LCD display that shows off your total coins and a built-in alarm clock. The Discovery Robot In My Room will retail for $39.95. It does look rather strange being headless though.