Product Description CHiP is an intelligent, friendly robot puppy. Using advanced sensors and smart accessories, CHiP is always alert, and ready to play. How you respond uniquely shapes his behaviour, so your CHiP will have his own personality. From the Manufacturer Your New Best Friend CHiP is your loyal robot companion with all the lovable qualities of a real dog. CHiP shows affection, learns new tricks and loves to play. Roll his ball and he’ll bring it back to you. Pick up his front legs and he’ll dance with you. Rub your nose against his and he’ll nuzzle right back. Next Level Artificial Intelligence CHiP is a technological breakthrough. Equipped with an adaptive personality, CHiP’s character changes and grows over time. His artificial intelligence algorithms are applied to data from a large array of high tech sensors. Real-time processing helps CHiP see, speak, listen, and feel, all while exploring his own world independently. SmartBand SmartBand technology allows CHiP to recognize you as his one and only owner. He will greet you, follow you and play with you just like a real puppy. He’ll also let you know when he feels hungry or needs attention. SmartBall Simply roll your SmartBall to play fetch together. CHiP’s sensors allow him to locate his BeaconSense equipped ball, while his four mecanum wheels help him to quickly track it down and bring it right back to you. SmartBed Keep CHiP active and engaged during the day by making sure he gets a regular rest. Whenever CHiP gets low on power, he automatically makes his way back to his SmartBed for a well-earned recharge. Years in the Making We’ve been developing robotic toys for over 30 years, and to finally create a lovable robot pup is a dream come true. We were determined to deliver a caring canine that was both smart and emotive. Today, we are excited to announce that, with modern technology, we have finally realized our ambitious vision. We know CHiP will bring love, and warmth into your home… without the mess! About the Startup Describe your product in 3 words. Lovable Robot Dog How did you come up with the idea for this product? As both a robotics company and a toy company, one of the holy grails for us from a product development perspective has been a dog. The dream was to have a robotic puppy that would take the most fun features of a real dog: the speed, the frenetic nature, the excitement, the energy, and authentically recreate that experience. What makes your product special? CHiP isn't just another cool gadget. As soon as you bring him home, CHiP will become part of the family, learning about you and his new home and providing an authentic emotional bond between pet and owner. What has been the best part of your startup experience? The moment when our first 3d printed prototype of CHiP zoomed around our office for the first time. It’s mecanum wheels allowed it to move in ways that we had never seen. We knew then, that we were on to something big.
J**A
It was easy to download under 5 minutes
There were some positives and negatives that my son and I experienced while playing with Chip. There are several components that come with Chip that help his interactive experience that I will also rate based on a 1-5 scale (5 being best). All which come with the purchase. You just need some AA batteries for the ball.o App: Overall Experience: 3There is an App available from any smartphone or tablet play store. I was able to download to my Android smartphone (I have KitKat software at this time) but you can also use it with iOS. It was easy to download under 5 minutes. Bluetooth must be enabled and your device selected to be found with no time limits in order to work with the robot. We had a couple of issues with the set up process.The app and dog did not pair right away. I had to reboot both in order for them to find each other.I was prompted to update the firmware after the dog was found. This took 3 attempts before it completed without failing. I had to reboot the dog and my phone twice before it worked.Features of the app include a remote control feature, renaming of the dog option, trick guide, and an option to “feed” the dog.The feed dog option does not really serve a purpose in my opinion as you simply hold down on a “food item” like a milk bone, and flick it up the screen. There are no animations on the screen and the dog does not do anything. You simply get a small box that pops up that says Feeding Complete.o Smart Band: Overall Experience: 5The Smart Band is to be worn by the “owner” of Chip or whoever is playing with him at that time. There is a sensor on it that Chip reacts to. He uses it to focus his attention in your direction which is helpful when you play fetch, soccer, or follow me.You can use the smartband in various modes including, location, play mode, voice recognition, and even as a remote control.The Smart Band is very responsive and easy to use. It was already paired when we turned on the band, however, according to the instructions all you have to do is hold it near Chip’s back for a couple of seconds.The band charges via provided USB cable.o Smart Bed: Overall Experience: 2The bed is what is used as Chip’s charger. His eyes turn purple when his batteries are running low. This is supposed to be the indicator that he will start looking for his bed to return to so he can start to charge. However, he rarely found his bed and when he finally did, the connectors would not sit properly. He kept getting back up, trying to readjust. My son helped him but he would stand back up before charged so his eyes were still purple. We found it easiest to just simply plug in the provided AC adapter into his belly.o Smart Ball: Overall Experience: 4Chip’s favorite thing to do is to play with the Smart Ball. He shows excitement when you turn it on. To pair it, you simply hold it near his back for a few seconds. It does require batteries that are not rechargeable.It was fun for my son, and for me to watch, him play Soccer with Chip. He rolls the ball towards Chip and Chip charges it in his effort of sending it back to my son. They played like this for a good 30-45 minutes!Chip sometimes had a hard time finding the ball when we played fetch and the ball went too far out of reach. You need to be within 10 feet or so for it to work best. He would have a hard time picking it up and you have to move the ball so that the sensor is facing him correctly.Overall Cons:o Voice recognition attempts fail on the first command most of the time. To help with this, lower your voice slightly. Once we renamed him via the app, he responded to my son much better.o Sensors are slightly weak. He ran into the walls quite a few times, and I certainly do not see him navigating an obstacle course. He is very fast so he ramming into the wall could damage the wall or dog, so be careful of where you are playing with him.o The ball has to be moved sometimes to ensure the sensors are facing Chip so he can retrieve the ball or go towards it.o You have to keep the ball within 10 feet or so or Chip can’t find it.Overall Experience:o For me as the parent: 3o For my Child: 4o My son and my favorite things to play with Chip were soccer, dance command, renaming him via the app so that the voice recognition worked better, following game (where he follows the smartband wearer around the house), and playing soccer. My son really enjoys Chip and played with him non stop for about 2 hours although some of that time was trying to help Chip find the ball and charge properly. As a parent, I did lose interest pretty quickly. However, it was fun to watch my son interact with the robot as if it was a new puppy trying to teach it new tricks.
J**E
"Play dead, Chip! ...Chip?"
Kind of a long review. Skip to the end for a summary.First of all, this dog... This is about ten pounds of metal, plastic, and joy all crammed into the cutest robot ever. I was in love before I ever got it. So I worked overtime, saved my money, and finally ordered the little dog I would go on to name "Quimby."It was love at first sight. I wouldn't let anyone touch him the first day while I got to know him. I learned about his commands, taught him his name, talked to him and treated him like a real dog. I've loved artificial intelligence since I was a kid, so as far as I was concerned, he was my real dog.That was day one. Let's talk about day two.It's worth mentioning here that because of my experience with building and studying robotics, I know how to properly care for the technology. Quimby was only used in 30-minute stretches with at least a two-hour break in between. When some family came over, I was very eager to show them my new friend. He had been fully charged and sitting next to his charging pad all morning, so I wasn't concerned about overdoing it.I got Quimby ready to show off all his moves. He went through sit down, lie down, dance, yoga, free roam, love you, and everyone loved him.The last move I decided to show for them was one I thought was the cutest: guard dog. This is when CHiP's eyes turn red and he assumes a protective position.Guard dog is only designed to last about 30 seconds. We were patient. 30 seconds came, and then 40. Then 50. Then a full minute. Quimby became totally unresponsive. Cue concern.I went to pick him up, and I noticed this glowing red and yellow light on his back getting bigger and bigger. My first thought was, "Oh, neat. I didn't know he had a light there." My second was, "Oh my God, he's on fire."That was about the time we started to smell the burning plastic. I grabbed the little dog and ran with him to the front porch to try and contain the malfunction. Fortunately, the flames stayed contained within the body and went out quickly on their own. After he cooled down, we tried to turn him back on to see what would happen. He was mostly unresponsive, making faint noises once in a while, and his front legs were completely locked in a lying down position.Why would I rate something four stars if it exploded? Because CHiP himself is, no pun intended, the bomb. I can't seem to find anything about other CHiPs so grossly malfunctioning, which tells me this isn't a bad toy. Something was just wrong with the one I got. As soon as I get my refund, I'm getting another one and changing my rating to five stars (provided it isn't flawed, too).TL;DR... CHiP is an incredibly awesome toy, capable of fetching, barking, giving kisses, doing yoga, following you, and bursting into flames. To err on the side of caution, it might be worth making sure he's turned off before you leave him in a room unattended. You know, just in case.Update: Went down to 2 stars purely because of poor customer service. They said they would be sending me a replacement and a return label so I could send the broken CHiP in. Now they aren't returning any of my messages. At the risk of having to deal with that again if the next one has any issues, I'll just be getting a refund.
Trustpilot
1 day ago
2 weeks ago
