For Only US$1,600, You Can Now Build Your Own Talking ‘Astro Boy’ Robot!

Feb 24, 17 at 6:13pm

Staff Writer

For many people, Astro boy is one of the most popular and iconic anime characters. Based on the manga by the anime and manga legend Osamu Tezuka, Astro Boy (Tetsuwan Atomu or Mighty Atom is about an android robot named Atom who possesses great skills, powers, and the ability to experience human emotions (a trait that not ordinary robots can have).

Now for only 1,600 USD, you can now build your own talking Astro Boy robot—“Japan’s first real character-based communication robot”! This project was made possible by the following entities: Tezuka Productions, Fujisoft, NTT Docomo, and Kondansha. The video below reveals the announcement of the project:

Recently, Kondansha has been uploading videos of talking Atom’s features and other functions. With on-board camera, the Atom robot can remember at twelve faces of family members and greet them with great enthusiasm. It can even sing you a “Happy Birthday” song!

Robot Atom’s parts will be shipped along with the new magazine Shūkan Tetsuwan Atom o Tsukurō. The first issue is slated to be released on April 4 at the cost of 830JPY. After this release, there will be around 69 weekly issues which are priced at 1,843JPY (with some issues might be priced at 2,306JPY to 9,250JPY).
The project only lets you assemble the robot with only one screwdriver. If you wish to have a fully completed robot, 1,000 pre-build sets are on sale by Viao at 212,900JPY.

More information can be found at Anime News Network.

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