WowWee Chimpanzee Alive Animatronic Life Like Chimp Robot Monkey with Remote Review
This was originally a SharperImage exclusive, but now wow wee is marketing it to other retailers. I expect Spencer Gifts to carry it soon. The Chimp is now available at SharperImage, Amazon and a few others.
The big deal here is the current price of 50 dollars shipped. Sharper Image ran a promotion at that price instead of the original price of 150 dollars and they sold out. Now, Amazon follows suit at 50 dollars and that it is a heck of a value for this particular item.
For starters, the skin and hair is of very high quality. I know this because I have visited a few special effects studios and know the difference between good and halloween mask quality. The hair is incredible. Set in movie studio style with unrecognizable pattern and great feel. The coloration on this bust is extremely life-like as well. The teeth are another story. Very nicely detailed.
This bust has electronics that enable lots of emotions that include some that appear incredibly lifelike. Yes, the motors are noisy, but this is the case with almost any animatronic device. In movie studios the motor sounds are dubbed over, but in real life, they don't exactly complete the illusion. At a distance or with background music or chatter it is not a big deal. If all this bust did were move and make noise with the remote it would be fine. However, wow wee included touch sensors, head tracking, sound sensors, and a remote. Just for comparison, Spencer Gifts sells animatronic stuff at Halloween for 50-150 that are not near this quality.
I imagine lots of people setting up hidden cameras to capture the reactions of people to this bust. You could set it on top of a big box with another smaller box over the head to appear the chimp is wrapped up for Christmas. Set it to 'guard' mode (head will scream and move at any sign of movement). Someone lifts up the top box, and gets the surprise of their life.
To me, it is simply amazing that this level of animatronic prop can be offered at the consumer level, much less at this price.
WowWee Chimpanzee Alive Animatronic Life Like Chimp Robot Monkey with Remote Feature
- Realistic hair, skin and sounds of the wild
- Fully animated features, interactive and communicative. Four distinctive moods: Happy, Playful, fearful and aggressive
- Sonic sensors, touch sensors and infra-red vision
- Remote Control and autonomous modes.
- Ages 8 and Up
- The first electronic home entertainment product based on the principles of Hollywood special effects
WowWee Chimpanzee Alive Animatronic Life Like Chimp Robot Monkey with Remote Overview
The Alive Chimpanzee combines Hollywood special effects with advanced robotics technology in the most realistic simian this side of the jungle. He's a life size, highly detailed realistic bust. Animatronics enable him to duplicate the signature sounds and movements of a real chimp. His skin and hair, which were developed specifically for the Chimp, are amazingly life-like. His head, eyes, mouth, upper lip, eye lids and eye brows move just like his counterparts in the wild. And, his vocalizations are startlingly real. He's multi-sensory, highly communicative and interactive. An infrared vision system allows him to detect movement and track objects, and touch sensors in his chin, head and ears react to contact. Alive Chimpanzee responds to sharp sounds with his stereoscopic sound sensors. The nature of the Chimp's response to these stimuli will depend upon the mood that he's in - curious, fearful, happy or angry. Watch out if he's angry - he becomes a very frightening and very loud chimpanzee. He comes programmed with five modes: Direct control, programming, guard, demo and "Alive" mode. In the "Alive" mode, the Chimpanzee will interact autonomously with his environment, carefully watching, listening and responding to what is going on around him. The Alive Chimpanzee comes complete with an ergonomically designed controller. Requires one "9V" battery and 4 "D" batteries (not included). AC adapter not included. Measures 13" tall.
WowWee Chimpanzee Alive Animatronic Life Like Chimp Robot Monkey with Remote Specifications
Doesn't everyone need an animatronic monkey bust? Well, okay, it's not a matter of
need, but, you must admit it's cool. Even the phrase is cool. Wowwee Alive Chimpanzee is a programmable, lifelike chimpanzee head and shoulders that will bewilder your family, astound your friends and, most likely, frighten your pets.
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| Alive Mode allows you to interact naturally with the chimp through its six sensors |
Monkey Looks Good
It's so lifelike, in fact, that recent guests to my home did a double-take when seeing it on my dining room table. It has latex rubber skin that's colored, wrinkled, and speckled in very realistic way and has big, brown, bloodshot eyes. Its head and shoulders are covered in synthetic monkey fur. Fine gray whiskers jut out from its brow and chin. The only thing detracting from this realistic chimpanzee likeness are two little sensors plugged into its nostrils. More on that later.
Under the fur on its back is a little power switch. When powered up, the Wowwee Alive Chimp looks around the room, shakes his head in a very simian way, and gives up a chimp laugh. It is reminiscent of the automatons at Disneyworld, but with more modest whirs and clacks in place of the pneumatic hiss of the Disneybots.
See No Evil, Hear No Evil
There are three basic ways to interact with the Wowwee Alive Chimpanzee: alive, direct control, and program modes.
Sensors turn the chimp into a virtual pet that displays different moods: curious, happy, fearful, and angry
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In alive mode, the chimp reacts to stimulus received through sensors in and about the head. Infrared "vision" sensors in his nose detect movement, which make him track what's going on by moving his head and eyes. Microphone "hearing" sensors in his ears make him react similarly; a snap of your fingers on one side of his head will make him twitch in that direction. His hearing and vision is pretty limited to stimuli just inches away from his face, though, so don't expect him to greet you when you come through the door. There are also "touch" sensors under his chin and on top of his head.
These sensors turn the chimp into a virtual pet that displays different moods. His four programmed moods are curious (his default mood when he's first switched on), happy, fearful, and angry. You can elicit different moods with different actions. Petting the top of his head and/or rubbing under his chin will put him in a happy mood. Waving things in front of his face or making loud noises next to his ear will put him into a fearful or angry mood (for the record, I'm the same way). Unless your a primatologist, you'll likely find the distinction between his happy and angry moods to be subtle. He moves his eyes and face and makes chimp noises. Without arms and hands to fling, uh, food, his mood is not so immediately clear.
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| Direct Control Mode allows you to operate the chimp like a puppet |
Remote Control Puppeteering
Direct control mode lets you operate the monkey with the included remote control. Anyone who has played a video game system in the last 10 years will be instantly familiar with the remote's thumbstick design. Toggle buttons on the shoulders of the remote simplify the many different control elements into a simple design. For example, in one toggle position, the left thumbstick moves the jaw, and in the other position, it moves the eye lids. Control mode essentially turns the chimp into a puppet. The remote also has six buttons that, when used with the toggles, can go through preprogrammed animations of his moods.
The Wowwee Chimp can make a wide variety of gestures. His head can nod up and down and turn from side to side. His eyes can move similarly, and his eyelids can close and open. His mouth can close and open, but his lips don't move, which is a little disappointing. I'd be a lot more excited about the programming feature if I could teach him to lip sync to a Britney Spears song.
Program Mode permits the user to store a routine of the chimp's movements and sounds up to 20 steps long. This is easy and fun to do, though you can only store one program at a time. Setting the monkey into Guard mode will make him respond to stimulus by executing the program steps you've put in.
One consideration for the Wowwee Alive Chimpanzee is where in your home does he belong? I suggest on top of the piano. After all, as the Three Stooges taught us, music soothes the savage beast. --Porter B. Hall
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Update Post: May 27, 2010 19:30:08
