Tired of missing Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, or even your little brother’s birthday, because you’re too busy getting an education 500 miles away from home?

Are you afraid of being labeled as “the worst father ever” simply because your job keeps you on the road for weeks at a time?

Well, you can stop feeling guilty! With the Rovio Wifi Roaming Bot, you can be a part of every family celebration from anywhere in the world!

Rovio is a robotic webcam equipped with a microphone and built-in speaker for 2-way audio — which makes it easy to communicate with your loved ones, or even take part in a video conference with full of control the camera, wherever you can find an Internet connection.

You can hear and see exactly what Rovio hears and sees thanks to its head-mounted moveable VGA camera and wide range of vision.

This little guy can stream audio and video via Wi-Fi (802.11b and 802.11g) to any web-enabled browser. It automatically detects your computer settings to guide you through the setup process too — making it easy to control Rovio through PCs, MACs, iPhones, and even the PS3.

Rovio is equipped with 3 omni-directional wheels and a built-in LED headlight that makes it easy to roll through dimly lit locations, and you can set waypoints to avoid controlling every step yourself. You can even allow Rovio to navigate your house on his own.

At the end of a long day of roaming, you can send Rovio back to recharge his NiMH battery at the click of a button – thanks to his self-docking capabilities and the charging dock’s built-in TrueTrack beacon.

Currently on sale at ThinkGeek.com for only $149.99, Rovio is the perfect gadget for those who have ever wished to be in two places at the same time.

We are living in the future. At least, we’re supposed to be. Any year past 1999 was supposed to be the future: a time when flying cars would be commonplace, holidays would be taken on the moon and we could replace an entire meal with a single pill. None of these things have come to pass, but it is some consolation that we do have autonomous vacuum cleaners such as the Roomba iRobot 440.

Forget about bending over, dragging an awkward bulky vacuum around and pushing a nozzle over your carpets: just set the compact Roomba iRobot down on your floor and settle yourself down in a chair to watch an episode of The Jetsons. If this robot were sentient, it would absolutely revel in meticulously crawling over your floors, sucking up dust like an a-list celeb. This automatic vacuum cleaner is, like all other robots, not sentient, but who cares? It cleans your floor.

The Roomba iRobot 440 Vacuum Cleaner is designed to slink into the tight spaces that cause major dust-rage with conventional vacuuming, is smart enough to detect cliffs, and can be further guided by two supplied virtual walls. It even has a dirt sensor, so that it knows when the job is done, and won’t stop until then.

Overstock are offering the Roomba 440 for the special price of $169.00.

This top robotic relaxation station is called the World’s Most Advanced Massage Chair…and for good reason. It simulates the position NASA astronauts use during multi-G takeoffs to help relieve stress, plus it’s able to replicate a masseur’s index finger and thumb – squeezing and kneading your neck and shoulders for the most faithful robotic recreation of actual human hands. Fitted with 24 independent air bags to alleviate stress and muscle fatigue throughout your body, the chair also includes finger-like projections that Shiatsu your soles to promote optimal blood circulation and is “ready for you now” over at HS for $5,000. Strap me in and crank it to 11. I’m going to the moon!

Need to defend your room from snooping siblings, but don’t know your amps from your ohms? Well, you can drop that weighty electrical-mechanics textbook ’cause this advanced robotic construction system called LEGO Mindstorms NXT 2.0 will let you skip through years of study and step-up resistance in a snap – making the construction of your very own fully-functional, computerized robots fun (and easy enough to actually finish).

Featuring a USB-friendly, LCD-equipped, computer-controlled “brick” called the NXT that includes a built-in 32-bit microprocessor to act as your creation’s brain, this intelligent bit of LEGO kit can even be controlled by computer or your cell phone (via bluetooth) to fire at intruders without you being in the room.

Including easy-to-use programming software and step-by-step building instructions for four robots (including Alpha Rex above, and my personal favorite – Robogator), the LEGO Mindstorms NXT 2.0 is available now from Firebox.com for $354 | £230 | €281.

The proprietary consumables that cleaning gadgets often use – much like ink cartridges – usually cost a bomb, and can render a tool useless if taken off the market. But that is where this hard-working cleaner-bot called the Autonomous Wet/Dry Mop really shines, as it uses widely available dry electrostatic or premoistened cloths to tackle your timber or tiled floors – and all without you lifting a finger.

Methodically and meticulously cleaning all your hard-surface flooring, the Autonomous Wet/Dry Mop collects dust, dirt and hair as it traverses your room in a linear pattern – like the Laser Guided Robot Vacuum does for your carpeted areas – and also moves back and forth in a traditional mopping motion for a more thorough, human-like cleaning.

Including a tabletop terrestrial satellite that guides the cleaner through your room using a technology similar to GPS, the Autonomous Wet/Dry Mop also features on-board sensors to ensure it won’t fall down stairs, run into furniture or get caught on rug fringes, while its low-profile design and rectangular cleaning head tackles hard-to-reach areas without you needing to move furniture.

Cleaning for up to 3 hours straight (exhausting just thinking about it), the Autonomous Wet/Dry Mop covers 1,000 sq ft as a dry sweeper, 250 sq ft as a wet mop, recharges via AC, includes 3 machine washable cloths and is available now from Hammacher Schlemmer for $249.95.

We’ve taken a look at a number of Roomba’s in the past, but this new automated cleaner is a little different. Called the Laser Guided Robotic Vacuum, it uses, you guessed it…LASERS, to digitally map out any room’s parameters and to identify obstacles such as furniture and walls. It then gets down to business, suctioning up dust and debris in the most efficient and linear pattern possible.

Featuring the most powerful suction for a robotic vacuum to date, the Laser Guided Robotic Vacuum removes pet hair and dirt in one pass and beginning at the perimeter of a room, cleans back and forth in a human-like fashion (though unlike us, never travels the same area twice) till every square inch is spotless.

With a repeatedly updating map that can’t be tricked by you moving furniture around, the programmable Laser Guided Robotic Vacuum cleans four rooms per charge, returns itself to its drive-on charging base when done and dusted and is available now from Hammacher Schlemmer for $399.95.

Putting practice is back-breaking work – so it’s no wonder many golfers tend to put in on the back burner. If this sounds all too familiar, you’ll want to get your hands on one of these fantastic flingers that make polishing up on your putting quick, fun and pain-free. Called the RoboCup Golf Ball Return Robot, it fits inside either practice or full-depth cups and automatically returns your ball up to fourteen feet away.

Coupled with a special Caddy Cord which surrounds your cup and acts as a rebounding barrier so that even missed putts are returned to you, the RoboCup Golf Ball Return Robot system will help you squeeze more shots into a shorter practice period – while also improving your game by forcing you to “miss small” in order for the ball to be auto-returned.

Winner of the Best New Product award at the 2009 PGA Merchandise Show and even used by the pros on the PGA Tour, the RoboCup Golf Ball Return Robot will help catapult your putting accuracy – fetching as many as 12,000 ball returns per set of 4 AA batteries (not included).

Including a padded, zippered carry case that easily slips inside your golf bag, the RoboCup Golf Ball Return Robot measures 1.75″ tall x 3.75″ deep x 3.25″ wide with a 22″ x 1″ diameter Caddy Cord and is available now – with 30-day returns – from Vat19.com for $59.95.

Still leaving your valuables unprotected at the beach? How quaint. But even if you bring a small army of mates with you, they’ll more than likely want to hit the water too – not guard your stuff. So what to do? Enlist the help of this remote-controlled defender called the R/C Land & Sea Amphibious Air Soft Battle Tank is what – and send him onshore to do your dirty work whenever a would-be thief, sand-kicker or seagull gets uncomfortably close to your towel. With a water-resistant body that transforms into a warship, the Amphibious Battle Tank can be stationed with you at sea – ready to charge onto shore at a second’s notice with its 20-meter-range BB gun blazing. That’ll learn them. Including an arsenal of 200 BB pellets, a rechargeable battery and a wireless controller, this amphibious beach / pond / poolside protector is available now from ThinkGeek for $59.99.

Vacuuming is a chore at the best of times, but if you’ve got a cat or dog at home – you’ll know how arduous and time consuming brushing their hair from the carpet can be. Well, thanks to this specially-designed pet-series Roomba called the Pet Owner’s Robotic Vacuum, you can automate that laborious brushing and cleaning – thoroughly removing deeply embedded dirt and dander from your carpets at the press of a button.

Featuring proprietary, counter-rotating agitator brushes that spread both low and high-pile carpet fibers for a deep clean, the Pet Owner’s Robotic Vacuum also packs a powerful motor for superior suction, removing pet hair and kitty litter – as well as dust and dirt brought in by dirty paws.

Equipped with a smart built-in sensor, the Pet Owner’s Robotic Vacuum navigates around furniture and avoids running into walls or falling down stairs and features clever anti-tangle technology – which reverses the Roomba’s brushes should it become entangled in a rug fringe.

Including two infrared virtual walls that let you confine the Roomba to particular rooms, the Pet Owner’s Robotic Vacuum can clean up to three rooms per charge before automatically returning to its base for a top-up, includes a set of additional brushes and filters, measures 3″ high x 13.5″ in diameter, weighs 7.5lbs and is available now from the spotless offices of Hammacher Schlemmer for $319.95.

Source:
Hammacher Schlemmer