Disney brings WALL·E robot to life for the kids

Disney teamed up with Pixar and Thinkway Toys to develop a line of WALL·E robotic toys, based on the adorable robot in the upcoming Disney-Pixar's animated flick of the same name. Both Ultimate WALL·E and iDance WALL·E are slated to debut this fall, but you can get a sneak peek of the duo at the Maker Faire this weekend happening at the San Mateo Fairgrounds.

The Ultimate WALL·E is a pretty advanced robot that sounds a little more complex than WowWee's Robosapien models. Apparently, it features 10 motors to fully bring the character to life, has sonic ears, and sensors all over to detect obstacles and guide him so he doesn't bump into things around the house. The remote control has a touch programming system to make it easy for kids to make patterns for him to follow, and can be programmed to execute thousands of combination movements. To give him more life-like characteristics, Thinkway Toys included a voice activation system that allows the robot to follow the sound of people's voice and detect when someone is entering the room. The best part is he is also compatible with your MP3 player, and has built-in speakers so he can DJ your next party and entertain guests all at the same time. Ultimate WALL·E will cost a whopping $190, and will be available at ToysRUs.

You know the kids will want their WALL·E robot friend, but $190 is a lot of money. To appease them, you could buy them the mini-version called the iDance WALL·E. This small bot is similar to the iDog in that it can talk, dance, and move to the sound of music. It hooks up to your iPod—or any MP3 player for that matter—via an audio in-jack. It will retail for $25 at ToysRUs, Target, Wal-Mart, and even Blockbuster, so keep an eye on it.

I'll be at the Maker Faire this weekend, so hopefully I'll bring you some video of the robots in action. Stay tuned.

Update: Here's the video review as promised. Click here to see WALL-E in action.