A new toy that is controlled by your smartphone may be available later this year in Australia. Desk Pets has released the TankBot, a remote control toy which charges from your USB port and travels at a speedy 6 inches per second, it is controlled by an application on your Android(or iOS)smartphone which you can grab from the Android Market here, they also have an autonomous mode which can navigate a maze, check out the video after the break:
At the moment they list these models as compatible :
| Make | Model | Android | code | Test Result |
| Sony Ericsson* | Xperia | 2.3.3 | 2 | positive |
| Motorola* | Milestone | 2.2.1 | 1 | positive |
| LG* | P500 | 2.2.1 | 1 | positive |
| Samsung* | GalaxyS SHW-M110S | 2.3.4 | 1 | positive |
| Samsung* | Galaxy S2 | 2.3.3 | 1 | positive |
| HTC* | Hero | 2.1 | 2 | positive |
| HTC* | WildFire | 2.2.1 | 2 | positive |
| HTC* | Desired HD | 2.2.1 | 2 | positive |
MyDeskPets advised they would be selling these through Radio Shack & Toys’R’Us in the US for $24.99 on their webpage they advised :
Tankbot is currently not available in Australia, we hope this changes later in the year.
I emailed Toys’R’Us to ask about them stocking this in their Australian stores and they advised they don’t currently stock these in their stores, they didn’t answer wether they would be stocking these in the future.
It appears you can buy this Online with free worldwide shipping through this Facebook page, however they’re selling it at a premium which takes the price up to $39.90USD, at this price I’ll admit I want to order one off the Facebook page, even with the premium I still think this is awesome, the application to purchase has been sent to my Finance Minister(Wife) and is being reviewed.
They are also offering developers the chance to review and improve the application through the Desk Pets Android Open Source Project, so if you’re an Android developer I highly recommend you check it out.
Anyone else tempted by one of these?
A good idea and a cute little toy but a bit too basic for my liking. It will be great if they have a little helicopter toy (not that AR.Drone) which you can control with your phone.
so cute
What is that massive Wart on the mobile phone!? Get rid of that ugly plug in remote (replace with wi-fi or bluetooth), and maybe add camera and it’s a deal!
Its how they have reduced the cost…. otherwise it will be like the drone pricing, aka $130 per tank!