A Korean company called Robot3 builds robots designed for purely for fun including for entertainment at parties and other events.
The most geektastic one in the bunch is a $5,250.00 four-legged beast called R7, which has a plush seat you can sit in while it walks around under your control. W00t.
The company also makes robotic animals, including ridable horses, a raptor, and a bartender which would be very cool to own. Robot Bartender, bring me a pint of Guinness please. They even appear to sell a robot woman! What more do you need in life? Get yours now 
Update (9:44 pm): Apparently the site links for the robots are not working now due to a 503 service error which means the web server is currently unable to handle the HTTP request due to a temporary overloading. I guess to many people want Bartender robots.
August 20th, 2008
6 Comments at "Real Ridable Robots for Sale"
I wonder what the mph/mpg on that robot is? I’d ride it to school…
Oh, and your links are broken…
I wonder how fast it is too. I don’t think it’s gas powered. Maybe solar powered? but for $5,000.00 USD you could get a nice economy car but then again, having a robot to ride into school would really rock. I’ll have to re-check the site.
As for the links to the robots, they worked when I posted them earlier, so it seems the site is having a server issue or something. I’ll keep checking them and if they don’t come back online, I’ll remove them. Thanks for the heads up.
“has a plush seat you can sit in while it walks around under your control”
I wouldn’t call that a robot. A robot is a device that can operate INDEPENDANTLY of human control (to date, through software and sensors that humans designed for such “independant” operation).
This sounds more like a large, more complex, mobile analogue of those stupid “robot arms” that Radio Shack sold in the 1980’s and 90’s that were simply mechanical grabbers with two or three activateable pivots. Human interaction was required to get it to do anything . . .
While the “robot” you describe probably has stability mechanisms and some other forms of “intellignece,” it’s still a far leap to “robot.”
After all, what would you call a Segway HT or a modern car (such as those with adaptive suspensions)?
Flex, if you read the dictionary.com definition of robot you will notice one of the definition states:
So according to dictionary.com, the above is infact a robot but I do understand what you mean.
The Robot3 company does have robots which can do a variety of complex human tasks on command or by being programmed like you describe in your reply including one of my favorites, the bartender robot.
As for what I would call “a Segway HT or a modern car (such as those with adaptive suspensions)”, those are vehicles with style
If you are sitting on it, it’s NOT “remote” now is it?!
Anyway, regardless of what dicitonary.com says, there is a fairly large disjoint between what the media (and apparently dictionaries) and the (real) robotics industry think constitutes a true robot.
Sony’s AIBO is more truly robotic than the “geektastic” R7 example you have given.
Indeed, Robot3, the company that makes the robots you reference SEEMS to make “real” robots. One, perhaps the “bartender” you reference, can apparently even control/drive its own Segway-like conveyance [pretty funny given my earlier comment]. A picture is at http://www.robo3.com/robot/robot_r3.html , although that robot could certainly be less capable than the photo seems to indicate.
Coes anyone around here read Korean?!
Flex, I understand your points but I still personally feel my above example is indeed a robot.
What if the above robot could be programmed to move and carrry you around without the rider having to manually control it? Would that make it a robot? Maybe the above learns from the human interaction, then can recreate the moves and actions?
Like you said, we need someone who can read Korean to get the full scoop on this thing. I was going to do an online translation but it doesn’t work for images or flyers. Maybe we could print it out and have the Defense Language Institute do a translation for us?
You should check out Robotwars.com as they have some cool robots that will rock your socks off.
Comment Now!