The Evolution of Roboquad: An Alien Arrives on Earth
Posted by Tiffany W on Monday, 27 August 2007Just after it landed from distant star systems, Wowwee introduced the RoboQuad to the entire planet. With its unique movement based on rotating multi-jointed legs, it’s not quite a crab, not exactly a spider, but a 4-legged alien quad.
He moves in 8-directions using his advanced awareness system enabled by his sound and his light sensors, RoboQuad has crawled off the work desks of our engineers and into your homes.
This little guy has personality: with a push of a button, he changes his awareness, aggression, activity levels to suit your tastes. Go ahead and have him perform some programmable sequences.
And, he has one of the coolest dance demos to come out of Wowwee yet!
Check out the evolution of the rare species of RoboQuad from his prototype beginnings to becoming your inquisitive alien friend.
Let’s take a look at the story from the beginning…
The original Tilden Spyrider built in 1981.
First RoboQuad sketch showing complex jointed legs.
First prototype of his basic frame, March 2006.
Isn’t he cute? First head using focused vision.
Building the first brains with analog technology.
Body and head together.
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Part 2 of Roboquad Evolution...
with exclusive photos of design and development.
Walking the walk: first steps on test legs.
First prototype together and working. Ready to roll…
Here comes the high-stepper…RoboQuad shows that he can step up to anything.
Still trying to figure out this walking thing one baby step at a time.
Taking a quick snooze. RoboQuad folds himself to sleep.
[[page]]
Part 3 of Roboquad Evolution...
with exclusive photos of design and development.
First engineering render.
A digital prototype.
Analog and digital types both work, so time to call in the engineers…
RoboQuad showing off dance moves.
And five quality engineers wishing they’d gone into interpretive dance.
First engineering gumby prototype. Not made of marshmallows.
Gumby Two in action.
[[page]]
Part 4 of Roboquad Evolution...
with exclusive photos of design and development.
First head design.
Second head design.
First body design.
Another initial “spyder” sketch.
He’s a bit of a combination of a “spy” and a “spider.”
And again after a CAD fine tuning.
Tilden’s sketch for engineering to interpret.
[[page]]
Part 5 of Roboquad Evolution...
with exclusive photos of design and development.
The first looks-like sample.
More design variation.
Two competing designs.
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Part 6 of Roboquad Evolution...
with exclusive photos of design and development.
Writing assembler code for the RoboQuad to read.
It's how the magic happens…
More CAD adjustments.
And close to the finished working sample.
Looking sharp in pearl custom paint.
The final finished bug-boy with remote.
Looking sharp in new colours. He’s in red sports car mode.
RoboQuad— a touch of personality on four legs.