Rossum's Children

Our lovely assistant has come through with more information about the Segway/WowWee licensing deal.

WowWee will be licensing the technology, but are recalcitrant to explain how, or in what systems. Instead they promise a "range" of products that will incorporate the information. The best quote in the story so far is probably "We will use Segway Smart Motion to enable our products to move and behave in ways that challenge the imagination and provide advanced functionality."

I'm afraid that if my robot is behaving in ways that challenge my imagination I might consider that a failure rather than a success. It sounds like the sort of thing I would tell the poor sap in India on the other end of the support hotline.

"Well, he was working fine but this morning he started cursing in German, ripped down the drapes, popped a wheelie and chased after the cat for half an hour. I can't understand what came over him. This completely challenges my imagination. Now the cat won't come out from under the bed, my drapes are ruined, and my imagination is feeling seriously threatened."

In any case the gadget and news media grabbed hold of the story and shook it like dog with a rat. My personal favorite for "most catty" goes to the Register article for managing to make fun of Segway, Wowwee, and throw in a jab at Amazon.com and the governor of California for good measure. C'mon guys, is anybody on your good side?

Here are the Official Bylines from the wire:
WowWee Ltd. First to Use Segway(R) Smart Motion. . .
Segway Inc. Expands Worldwide Market. . .

And here's the spin:
Segway's brains head for toy robot [TheRegister.co.uk]
WowWee and Segway Partner Up [PCMag]
WowWee Licenses Segway Tech for...Robots![designtechnica.com]
Segway rolls out technology licenses [zdnet.com's water cooler]