Beni looks like just another cute little toy robot, but it's actually a roving camera – raring to follow you around and capture fun times. Oh, and it can jump.
Designed by Mondo Robotics – whose team hails from DJI – the robot uses its two wheeled legs to run alongside you and shoot footage in 4K HDR at 30 frames per second. Beni can also follow your pet, or take directions from a tiny remote control with a joystick that you can wear on your wrist.
Its swappable battery allows for up to 1.5 hours of on-the-go filming on to a memory card and 32 GB of onboard memory. You can also see through Beni's eyes via a mobile app, control it, and have your videos edited automatically from the footage it captures.
The robot also has its own voice, and eyes that light up to express its emotions. What's especially impressive, though, is all the ways Beni is able to move around.
Those little wheels help it reach nearly 18 mph (29 km/h); its motorized legs and spring-filled joints allow it to jump up to 10 inches in the air, and climb up and down stairs. It's got dual 150-degree obstacle-avoidance cameras for when it's navigating by itself, and it can recover after crashing into things or falling over.
With its unique form factor, Beni can capture some cool shots from an angle that you don't see used as much as a regular handheld camera or a drone's perspective.
Beni is being designed with a lot more features in mind, including support for accessories to be snapped on, remote control with a SIM card, and the ability to be driven around using a gamepad and first-person view glasses.
As far as unnecessary purchases go, this is one of the most interesting I've come across on Kickstarter this year.
That's where Mondo is crowdfunding Beni, which can be had for US$549 – discounted a fair bit from its expected $799 retail price.
All crowdfunding campaigns carry an element of risk, and this is Mondo Robotics' first go at it – so you'll want to keep that in mind if you choose to back this campaign. That said, the company's already raised nearly $1.5 million from over 2,200 backers for Beni.
If all goes to plan, orders are slated to ship in October with a $10 delivery fee to the following countries at launch: US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain.
Source: Kickstarter
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