Name: Epson "Monsieur II"
Category: Robots
Price: TBA
Release date in Japan: TBA
The Gist: Due to be launched at April's Robodex exhibition, these little guys are claimed to be the world's smallest and thinnest micro-actuator- and Bluetooth-equipped robot prototypes. Monsieur II's predecessor, "Monsieur" (no, really?), got into the Guinness Book of Records on account of its extreme tininess -- the new robots are smaller and better. No longer just moving around autonomously and a bit aimlessly, the M2s can now be radio-controlled via Bluetooth. They can pootle forward, pootle backward and turn left and right. And not necessarily at the same time. Sometimes they'll just turn left. Or just right. They're crazy little fellas like that. And they move at speeds of up to 70mm per second (our brains are too small to work this out, but we believe this is close to about 100 mph in real money). Size-wise, the robots are less than 20mm all round and weigh 12.5g, so they are probably not quite up to helping you with the housework. Maybe when they grow up.