R2-D2 Droid, for real, sort of…

Nikko Home Electronics, a Japanese company unveiled two R2-D2 droids at CES 2007 that caught our eyes. Want to hear what waziwazi has to say on how to put them to use properly?

One of the Artoos takes the form of a motorized webcam that comes with a light saber remote control. With the base-station setup, you can roam this 6 inch Artoo anywhere in your house to look around. According Nikko’s spokesperson, this operation can be controlled via your computer across the world. I am not suggesting anything for you boys out there, but imagine what interesting things you might be able to see with the beloved, harmless old Artoo. Oh, it does have a zoom function as well, if you were wondering.

The second R2-D2 is a multimedia projector robot-—it pretty much will work with all your video/audio electronics and will project your girlfriend’s photos on the wall and make her look like Princess Leia. And now you know that is a win-win situation. The integrated media control and motion control come together in a Millennium Falcon remote. This nice gadget doesn’t come cheap though. The bigger Artoo (about knee-tall) will come out in June 2007 at $2500. I’d say it is cheaper to buy a Princess Leia costume for her, maybe?

Oh, while we are at it, there are also some other R2-D2 products out there. Like this Laundry Basket was making me think “hey, maybe this IS an intended function on the original Artoo for its Jedi master.”

Click here to see a demo video of the NHE product.