Spy Review

Something that feels more like a toy, but will captivate the attention of virtually any bloke is the Spyke Wifi Robot. Spyke is supposedly the first pre-built robot available that uses an existing WiFi connection to control it. This novel spy robot can move, watch, hear, speak, take pictures as well as record video and sound. And here’s a cool feature, when the battery runs low, Spyke returns back to its charging station automatically!

Looking at the specifications, its very well equipped. Spyke uses standard wireless standards 802.11b/g to operate, so its very likely to work with your existing wireless router. Spyke also comes with software to work with Windows and Mac OS X. No linux support, but I imagine that Meccano will open up the robot API eventually. This will help to drive sales by allowing developers to write their own cool applications.

The built-in web camera is quite low quality, at only 320×240, and can capture up to 15 frames per second. A really odd feature is that the robot is compatible with Skype’s Voice over IP network, so you can use the built-in camera, microphone and speaker to communicate with someone over the internet. A little confusing since the robot is called Spyke, and it works on Skype!

With Christmas around the corner, I expected the Spyke Wifi Robot to be ready for the festive period. However, its not available until January 2008. The currently listed price is £200, but I expect that will go down over time.