Meet CHiP: the robot dog that will capture your heart

A company named WowWee has unveiled CHiP (Canine Home Intelligent Pet), your new surrogate pet in the form of a Smart Band-controlled black-and-white robot dog. 

CHiP comes packed with sensors. Its head alone has an assortment of hidden sensors that give it a 360-degree view, which it uses to find its special ball and charging bed. There are plans to include touch sensors in the head, back, and belly as well. The robot dog operates using Bluetooth to connect to its special Smart Band that owners wear to send CHiP likes and keep track of.

While the robo-dog may just look like a cute, big-headed puppy, its function is much more than that: its paws are actually a set of Meccanum wheels that allow it to roll around in any direction at high speed – a feature that allows CHiP to behave like a real dog.

CHiP has the ability to track and catch its ball even if it’s not within close proximity because the ball uses IR Beaconsense, meaning it goes to sleep when not in use to preserve battery and it communicates with CHiP so the robot can “see” it during a game of fetch. 

In the prototypes tested, CHiP was agile and quick, but had trouble keeping balance and wobbled over on its face on a few occasions.

Aside from a few minor flaws that need to be tweaked, CHiP is quite special. The robot dog can sit, squat down, shimmy, dance, and make all types of dog noises. When asked what makes CHiP different from other robotic dogs previously introduced, WowWee executive Davin Sufer said “it acts with intent,” explaining that the robot dog will act differently when you're around and will keep itself busy, looking for its ball and reacting to its environment.

CHiP’s sensors can note when the sun is setting and read the dimming light, thus using the IR sensors to find its bed and self-charge If CHiP cannot find the bed and is stranded, the robot sends a text to you asking for help. It can operate for two hours before requiring a couple hours of battery charging.

CHiP is not controlled by remote, but rather through a Smart Band that has an app to adjust the settings. The band helps the robot determine when you are arriving home based on Bluetooth and allows it to follow you around to “train,” which is done through a Like button on the band that you press to reinforce something CHiP does.

Expected to be released sometime next year, CHiP will cost $199.99 (for both the robo-dog and Smart Band); any additional bands will be between $29.99 and $39.99. WowWee plans to launch a Kickstarter or Indiegogo campaign to support it.

Source: Mashable