A collection of the original Transformers toys from the 1980s. (ID 145470319 © Aisyaqilumar | Dreamstime.com)
On Monday, we did a wrap up of our favourite innovations showcased at the Consumer Electronics Show, or CES, 2023.
This expo is a panorama of pretty much every new type of tech imaginable—from gaming and transportation to medical gadgets and home security. If you'd like to read our wrap-up, go here. We had a lot of fun putting it together.
We also saved a little something for later in the week. As in today!
And that something is a programmable, fully mobile toy that is unlike anything we've ever seen. A self-transforming, remote-control Optimus Prime of the Transformers!
Autobot on autopilot
The new Optimus Prime toy stands tall at CES. (Getty Embed)
As the leader of the heroic Autobots, Prime is one of the most recognizable toys in the world. Back in the 1980s, he and other Transformers became a sensation. There were cartoons and anime, too. And eventually, several big-budget CGI films and an amusement park ride!
All along, the toys themselves were pretty much the same. The designs changed a little, but it was the same basic idea. You moved pieces by hand to transform the toys from a robot into some sort of vehicle or animal and back again.
But last year, there were rumblings about a new toy from a robot company called Robosen. An Optimus Prime toy that actually transformed on its own.
Though it has already been seen in a few internet videos over the past few months, CES 2023 was a big unveiling of the half-metre, 19-inch tall toy in public. And wow.
If the bot just transformed on its own, that would be cool. But this thing does so much more—posing, moving, driving, speaking. And via an app, the owner can program custom movements and fully control the toy. As a piece of tech, it's pretty fun!
Watch the video below to get a sense of just how next level this toy is. Roll out!
