British-Nigerian CEO, Silas Adekunle, of Reach Robotics has struck a deal with Apple to sell the company’s gaming robot, MekaMon, in Apple Stores across UK and USA and also online on Apple.com
SIlas Adekunle is a First Class engineering graduate from the University of the West of England, with a Bachelor of Science in robotics technology. He previously worked at GE Aviation and Infineon. He founded Reach Robotics in 2013 with co-founders John Rees and Chris Beck. Reach Robotics is based at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory (BRL) Technology Incubator in Bristol, UK.
MekaMon, the flagship product of Reach Robotics, is the result of the incorporation of augmented reality into robotics. Reach Robotics has created a new branch of gaming – one that totally immerses the player by putting their four-legged robots into battle in both the physical and virtual worlds with both iOS and Android compatibility.
After selling out of its initial run of 500, U.K.-based Reach Robotics scored a $7.5 million funding round to help it produce a more consumer-ready version of its battling robotics platform.
“We’ve created an entirely new video gaming platform,” said Silas Adekunle, CEO of Reach Robotics. “MekaMon straddles both the real and virtual worlds while taking the gaming experience beyond a player’s screen and turning their sitting room into a limitless robotic battle zone. MekaMon represents a quantum leap forward in the leveraging of augmented reality. Players can whip out their smartphone to battle their multi-functional, connected battlebots in the physical and virtual worlds at the same time.”
Beyond creating an entirely new category of entertainment, gamers also get to benefit from the MekaMon robot’s unprecedented and sophisticated degree of movement.
MekaMon Specs and Features:
- Smartphone Compatibility: MekaMon can be enjoyed on updated iOS and Android devices and uses the phone’s camera and infrared sensors for precision game-play.
- Portability: Each robot weighs approximately 2.2lb, is 11.8in x 11.8in x 5.9in in dimension and has a removable, rechargeable battery for at least one hour of non-stop play-time.
- Bluetooth and Infrared Battlezones: Powered by the smartphone app, MekaMon robots connect to each other via infrared signals and players’ phones connect to each other over Bluetooth, allowing friends to battle against each other as well as offering arcade-style and co-operative game-play.
- Choose your World: Gamers choose whether to play in the real world or augmented reality – once battles starts, the robot is free to move and use any object in the room (e.g. tables, chairs, other toys, etc.) to block and/or hide from attackers!
- Customizability: A MekaMon robot can be customized to suit a user’s individual playing style, adding weapons or shields to create more aggressive, defensive and technical capabilities.
“As the world’s first premium gaming robot, MekaMon fits neatly into the emerging category of smartphone-enabled, augmented reality products,” added Adekunle. “By fusing robotics, reality-bending technology and competitive play, we’re offering players a new twist on hardware and video games – a premium robotics product that’s easy to play but very difficult to master.”
MekaMon retails at $299.95 and can be purchased here on Apple.com
