Robopet

The Robopet is a robotic dog produced by WowWee that is based on the biomorphic work of Mark W. Tilden. The Robopet has IR, audio and tilt sensors and is able to wander around autonomously detecting and reacting to objects and sounds. It also performs random 'tricks' such as howling, begging, rolling over and playing dead.

Hardware and Software

The Robopet has 5 equal custom gearboxes using 2 and 3 bit position switches. The robot runs from a single processor board in its back and is controlled by autonomous routines and IR (Infrared) signals from a thirteen button remote control. The CPU is a custom-designed 16bit RISC processor with 512k of built in sound and 12k of program space and 128 bytes of onboard RAM.

The software code is 12k of assembly language based around an operating system written in the 1980s by the inventor, Mark Tilden. The robopet operates on 4 batteries, while the remote needs 3 batteries.

Features and Trix

When left by itself for a few seconds, the Robopet enters its autonomous mode and starts exploring the room, responding to I/R reflected signals from objects and the floor.