Meccano Spykee The Wi-Fi Spy Robot - Hot Christmas Toys
From Meccano
Customer Reviews
Spykee - the Spy Robot
I've had the Spykee robot for a few days and here are my first impressions, positive and negative.
The robot took me a few hours to build. I'm sure you could build it quicker but I took my time. The instruction manual is pretty good and once it's built it only takes a short time to get the thing working over WiFi - assuming you understand WiFi and how to use and configure wireless networks. It's a good idea to follow the suggestion of getting the robot working in 'local' mode, then in 'local remote' mode, then full remote mode. The robot has its own inbuilt wireless transmitter for 'local' mode and a receiver for other modes. For all modes other than local, you connect the robot to your wireless router so you do not have to have a PC running all the time if you want to connect to your robot when you are away from home. I've had a couple of issues with the robot failing to connect to my router and I suspect that's because it's wireless range is not as good as my PC - but it's not bad. You control the robot using a custom GUI that you download from the Meccano website. The GUI is pretty average. There is no help on the GUI and you're expected to know what the various buttons do by reading the manual (also downloaded from the Meccano website). Once you've figured out the GUI it's pretty easy to control the robot and send it around your house. Overall I'd say it's a decent gadget and you'll enjoy playing with it and I'm sure a couple of minor quirks I've noticed with the GUI will be fixed in a later release of the GUI or a new firmware version for the robot. I have a few dislikes that I'd like to point out - mostly to do with what i take to be 'over optimistic' marketing of the product:
a) The robot is not designed for going up/down stairs - it'll fall over
b) The VOIP (voice over IP) capabilities are not integrated with Skype and you can only have a chat over IP if you have logon permission to the robot from a remote GUI. I'm sure the robot was originally touted as having Skype but it doesn't.
c) The robot has a surveillance capability which on the surface looks like a good security measure (and a reason for gadget freaks to justify the purchase to the Mrs.). However, you can only put the robot into surveillance mode if you are connected to it via the GUI and remain connected to it - which kind of defeats the object of having the robot looking after my house while I'm away if I have to be internet connected to the thing all of the time.
d)Battery life could be better
e) The robot has a 'self-dock' feature whereby it can find its charging station when the battery is low. But it can only find the charger if it is situated within a few feet of the charger.
Features
- Spykee is a robot you can build yourself and is compatible with all Meccano pieces
- Two modes of control: locally (via Wi-Fi technology) and internationally (via the internet)
- Spykee can be a VOIP phone giving free calls and also acts as a webcam, and is compatible with Skype, Google and Microsoft Talk technologies
- When he detects a movement, an alarm can be activated on your computer, or he'll send you a picture via email wherever you are in the world
- MP3 music player: You can also listen to your own music through Spykee by plugging in your MP3 player
- Recommended for age 8 years onwards and not for children under 3 years due to small parts
- Requires one 9.6V battery (included)
