Like any pure-hearted geek, I've wanted to own a droid ever since I saw Star Wars as a kid. Now, I actually have one: It's Beni, a new gadget from Mondo Robotics, and it has me saying, "Artoo who?" It's not just my Upgrade of the Week; it's possibly the upgrade of my life.
Beni is an all-terrain camera robot that was born as a project on Kickstarter, but unlike so many other Kickstarted projects, it's actually really cool. It takes 4K video while autonomously following its subject wherever they go. If you want to get action footage, there's no need to hassle with a tripod or another person: You can control it with a remote, or you can make it follow you. It can also be set to track you from the side or circle you, and you can adjust what it is doing from the app or remote control on the fly, so with minimal effort, there's no limit to the kind of elaborate shots it can pull off. Plus it's adorable. Just look at this little guy:
Being cute wouldn't matter if Beni was just a gimmick, but the footage it takes is actually really impressive. Check out this clip, which I recorded with no planning of any sort; I just locked Beni's camera on this skater and told it to follow him wherever:
See how smoothly it glides over the uneven concrete? How effortlessly it handles inclines? I even launched it off a huge ramp and it landed on the other side, righted itself, and got back to business.
Here's an example of the kind of footageyou'll get when you put it in "circle you" mode (and again, this was recorded with no prior planning):
The way it just slides under that bench? Come ON. That's just slick.
Yes, Beni is a slightly silly product, but as slightly silly products go, it's pretty inarguably awesome. Here is a short list of things I love about Beni:
It's super easy-to-use. I got it up and running moments after taking it out of the box and downloading the app. You can easily figure out how it works on the fly.
It's a multi-terrain robot. You can get an extra set of bigger, beefier wheels, but even with the stock tires, this thing worked great on uneven concrete, grass, and dirt.
It's rugged. While Beni does have obstacle detection ability, it runs into things a lot anyway, but that's not a problem. Beni can take massive, epic spills, slam into walls, and get kicked by children, and it will right itself and proceed on without a hitch. It's amazing to watch.
It actually works the way you expect it to. I know that's a low bar to clear, but it's rare for a flashy piece of tech to actually do what it says it promises, and Beni does.
It's adorable. A lot of work went into making Beni as friendly-looking as possible—it does tricks, blinks its "eyes," responds to gestures, and you can even give him a little baseball cap. Beni's vibe is positive.
It's great for social interaction. If you have a little robot following you around, people will want to talk to you. I'm not a huge fan of people, but if you want to make friends at the park, this robot will at least open the door.
It's not as expensive as you might imagine. Beni will run you $750 for the base model, and $899 for the "Explore Combo" with larger wheels, a charging stand, and a little hat. While $750 isn't cheap, for what you get, it's actually a pretty solid deal. Everything costs a fortune now anyway! You deserve a robot.
View this post on InstagramHow to buy Beni the camera robot
Beni isn't quite ready to make its debut yet. Right now, you can pre-order one on Mondo Robotics site, with a release planned for some time in early November. This is the company's first product, so it's not yet clear if Beni will ever be sold via third-party retailers like Amazon.
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