Forget about underpowered netbooks and nettops, Vstone may have the best idea ever for Intel's Atom platform. Meet Robovie-PC, a new hobby humanoid robot kit built around Intel's Atom Z530 processor (1.6GHz). Armed with a highly scalable embedded PC, the Atom-powered robot can connect to the Internet and be programmed to take shots with its 1.3MP camera.
Fully assembled, Robovie-PC stands about 15 inches tall and weighs a little under 5 pounds. It (He?) boasts 20 degrees of freedom, plus pretty good mobility thanks to the gear interlock parallel link mechanism used in the legs. But should Robovie-PC walk right off your desk, the squishy polyurethane foam that makes up the exterior body should keep it from shattering like Humpty Dumpty.
Other specs include VGA output, USB ports for mouse and keyboard, wireless LAN card, and compatibility with Windows XP, Vista, and Linux, with support for Windows 7 coming soon.
The only place you can pick one up right now is in Japan, where Robovie-PC runs about $4,440.
