Ah, Erector, or Meccano as it was known in my part of the world. It looks a world apart from the bits and pieces I used to play with as a kid. The bug never bit me, much to my father’s chagrin, as he loved his Meccano well and gave me his old set. Looking at the new stuff from Erector, there is a lot more plastic than I remember, and it seems like they have lost quite a bit to Lego. Maybe the Spykee can change things for them.
We have seen a lot of these robotic toys cum tools in the past. Spykee is not really in danger of breaking new ground. According to the website it can move, hear, observe and speak as well as taking real time pictures and video. That is nothing particularly new. It can act as a motion detecting alarm, alerting you via email; reasonably interesting but not terribly exciting. The Spykee would completely fail to impress were it not for the fact that it is Skype 3.0 compatible. As an added bonus, there is also an MP3 player on the side.
All of these features are included in the flagship Spykee, which will run you for about $450. There are scaled down versions available for less, but you will lose all of the funky features that separate the Spkee from lesser robotic toys. If you are a tightwad, you can lose the WiFi in return for Bluetooth and change the MP3 player for an iPod dock. It will set you back about $300. The kid friendly Spykee Miss and Spykee Vox don’t have any of the interesting functions, but can control the TV, they will hit you for about $230.
Available some time around summer.
Source: The International Herald Tribune, Erector USA
