This is the third article I have written on this topic recently and it seems like everyone is jumping on the robot bandwagon.  Robots, which have been popular in Japan for years, are making a major leap over the Pacific and landing on store shelves across America. Indeed, everyone from Disney to Sony to Hasbro is piling on to capture an emerging market that is taking many forms.

One of the real hot areas of robot exploitation is combining music with animatronics. I wrote about Sony’s Rolly, the egg-shaped robot capable of choreography.  Why listen to music when there is so much more entertainment potential available?  That seems to be the premise behind Tiger Electronics and Hasbro’s A.M.P.; hot on the heels of Rolly.  A.M.P. stands for Automated Music Personality.

SEGA Toys in Japan is part of the team distributing this new robot with it’s big introduction and demonstration occurring at the Tokyo Toy Show over the next couple of days. (June 19-22)

The 29″ tall robot can use any MP3 player as it’s motivation to start moving. The maker claims that this robot has ‘attitude’, which should make it popular with a lot of consumers. The AMP robot features Dynamic Balancing Technology, which allows the robot to balance ‘in a manner that seems to defy gravity’.  Can you say ‘Segway’.

Music comes from a 5″ mid-range speaker and two high output tweeters. The option of bass boost is available by touching the boost button. While the A.M.P. bot looks like a waiter holding a couple of plates, it actually has user-controlled touch-pads at the end of each arm.  Use the left touch pad to add music effects and the right touch pad to control the audio.

With the release of the Disney-PIXAR movie WALL-E on June 27th, movie-goers will once again be focused on robots. The release of A.M.P. in the U.S. in October will find anxious consumers willing to pay the estimated $500 retail price.

Watch for A.M.P. bot at select retailers. With 12 watts of stereo sound, 49 LED lights that blink to the music and an infrared  tracking system, A.M.P. will be a rolling, dancing fun-bot for those ready for some entertainment. Choose his Dance, Track, Drive modes to keep him moving or put him in Park and just chill. A.M.P.’s unique gyro technology keeps him upright while moving, and when in Park, he deploys his kickstand to keep from falling.  Who ever said that your music just has to sit there?