Do-it-yourself robot a project for creative minds
Have an idea for a perfect robot? You can try building it with the Vex Robotics Design System. Sold at RadioShack for about $300, the Vex starter kit contains more than 500 robotic parts, including a chassis, wheels, motors, gears and a controller. Want an even splashier robot? You can add extras, such as a Programming Kit ($100) that lets you program a robot’s behavior, a Light Sensor Kit ($20) that lets the robot react to light and an Ultrasonic Range Finder Kit ($30) that alerts the robot to obstacles in its path. www.radioshack.com, www.vexrobotics.com
Atari watch offers handy game play
It’s 1979, and you’re smashing asteroids from your spaceship. Or so you can pretend while wearing Fossil’s new Atari watch. With a black leather band and vintage steel case bearing the Atari logo on top, the Atari watch showcases animated game play of the classic “Asteroids” in its original black-and- white display. Just don’t forget to check the time. Five thousand limited-edition watches packaged in an “Asteroids” arcade-like box will be for sale this month for $130 each. In October, Fossil also will introduce a less expensive line of Atari watches featuring animated versions of “Breakout,” “Centipede” and “Asteroids” for $85 each.
www.fossil.com
Pioneer delivers with DVD recording devices
You can search for your favorite TV shows, record them and then, if they’re keepers, preserve them on a DVD with Pioneer’s new DVR-533H DVD recorder. Priced at about $500, the DVR-533H has an 80-gigabyte hard drive, a front-panel digital video (IEEE-1394 FireWire) hookup for camcorders and a DVD burner that can record onto dual-layer discs. The 160 GB hard- drive model, the DVR-633H, costs $600. Prefer a VCR over a hard drive? Pioneer also makes a machine with a DVD burner and a VCR. The DVR-RT501 model costs $400.
www.pioneerelectronics.com
Canon’s compact copier a portable business-trip treat
Can you copy that? You can, if you take Canon’s PC160 Personal Copier on your next business trip. Weighing just less than 19 pounds, the portable copier comes with a convenient handle and can be folded into a compact 14.1-inch-by-17.3-inch-by-4.5-inch carrying case. The machine has a 50-sheet tray and can produce four letter-sized black-and-white copies in one minute. It also can copy onto postcards, colored paper, labels and transparencies. Available in late August, it costs about $150. www.canonusa.com
