Miuro, the killer robot-loudspeaker for iPod®

We were invited on Friday at the Miuro press conference held in a very nice French restaurant in the Silicon Valley. The cheese was awesome and God knows how we miss it (we lived in Paris for a while), but the real surprise was this amazing Network Music Player Robot coming directly from Japan. This fun, all rounded, device dances around while playing music from an iPod (hidden inside the robot) with a killer sound. The design of the two spherical wheels-loudspeakers made it a real challenge to produce a high quality sound. ZMP Inc, the robot manufacturer, collaborated with the famous audio company Kenwood Corp. to design the speaker system. The result is terrific: when the Miuro started to play we thought that a real pianist was in the room!

The fun part was to see the robot rolling around with lights blinking in sync with the music rhythm, it has over 10 000 dancing patterns available! It comes with a remote, allowing the user to control its movements and select the songs.

Using its camera and its sensors (distance and touch) our little friend moves autonomously to a programmed location and at a pre-defined time, making it the ultimate alarm clock. The Miuro is also able to find itself the most suitable position for the best sound experience!

You can connect other music players but only the iPod® can be remotely controlled, it supports the current audio format (Waw, Mp3, Wma, Aac, Aiff, Lpcm), it plays the radio and stream music from the Internet through a Wifi connection.

It ships in Japan in December, and will be available in the U.S. by the second half of 2007. Although the price tag is high (around $ 930), you won’t be disappointed. If you can afford it, get rid of your Apple Hi-Fi® (read our review)and buy this great enhanced loud speaker. Product page: miuro.com

We had a great time meeting with the ZMP team and CEO Hisashi Taniguchi, and we ended the event by having a very delicious dinner (not included in the event, no bribe here) with two other nice tech gadgets fans: Mary and Rob. Check out the Gervais Restaurantand Rob’s TV show Tech Closeup.

Specifications
Weight 11 lbs (5 kg)
Size 14 inches (34 cm)
Battery life approx 3-4 hours
Optional high capacity battery 6-8 hours

Main unit (around $ 930)
– Network Audio Function
– Remote control Motion Function
– Dancing and illumination
– Sweet Spot (Frontal positin) Self Positioning Function

Options
– Autonomous Motion Package (around $170)
– Remote Communication Package (around $140)
– High Capacity Battery (around $110)
– Clear top Cover (around $25)

Filed in Apple >Audio. Read more about Hands-On.