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Robots Take Over Toyland

By Anita Hamilton

Robo Baby crawls, coos and cries like the real thing.

The annual Toy Fair in New York City is the toy companies' chance to show off their newest playthings for the coming year. This year's fair was simply crawling with robots! Last week at the fair, foot-long bugbots crept across exhibit floors. Two-legged babybots took their first steps. A testy dinobot snapped its jaws.

Why are so many toymakers creating robotic toys? For one thing, they saw how popular Furbies were. People bought more than 40 million of the chatty, furry critters that hit stores two years ago. Last fall Sony received 40,000 advance orders in just four weeks for its robot dog Aibo-despite its outrageous $1,500 price tag! Most robotic toys cost $20 to $70.

"The whole concept of a machine being alive is enthralling," says home-robot inventor Henry Thorne of Probotics.

Tiger Electronics gave us the robo pup Poo-Chi in 2000. This year the company is releasing lots of new pals for its popular pooch. At the toy fair, Tiger's motorized sea turtles and jellyfish were gliding through bubbling fish tanks. The company also makes miniature robot mice that shake when they're lonely and squeal when they're hungry. Playmates Toys introduced Ozlo, a funny storytelling robot who can ask his owner to repair him!

B.I.O. Bugs are creepy crawlers that battle and scamper around.

The latest robot toys are smarter-and more lifelike-than ever. Hasbro's B.I.O. Bugs, $40, send out radio signals to sense who or what is in the room. If it's another B.I.O. Bug, the bugs may decide to fight. Touch a B.I.O. Bug's antenna, and it will scurry away. "You can train them, but you can't tame them," says creator Richard Yanofsky. He claims that the bugs are almost as smart as cockroaches. Let's hope they're much more fun to play with!

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