Seems Practical: An Intelligent, Dancing Robotic iPod Speaker Dock

As part of Tech Crunch’s ongoing Disrupt conference, some pretty cool ideas are being presented. Once such idea is Tovbot, which is a dancing, robotic iPod speaker dock. Don’t I look dumb for having one of those stationary speakers! Tovbot is also a Kickstarter project, trying to raise money for production through crowd funding. Right now it’s around the $20,000 mark and it needs $80,000 more with 26 days to go.

But Tovbot goes that extra mile and provides something truly futuristic and captivating – it can respond to sounds in its surrounding. If you clap out the beat to Love Me Do by the Beatles, Tovbot will try and find a matching song and play it. This is probably best done not around me, and not when I’m hungover. You won’t like me when I’m hungover.

The dock even has a name – Shimi (get it? Shimmy….groan!). Even cooler – Shimi has face recognition software, and will point the speakers towards you wherever you are in the room. So if you like to listen to music while you vacuum (whatever that is) instead of lying down, Shimi will attempt to follow you.

But don’t believe me – check out a video of the magic in action below, including some rocking out to Muse. Johnny 5 is alive!