Jumping Sumo
Scare your chums with a drone
This two-wheeled remote control vehicle zips around the floor at a fair pace, turns sharply, features a front-facing camera and – most importantly – jumps up to 80cm in the air on command.
It’s all controlled from an iOS device, which it connects to over Wi-Fi, enabling it to stream video to the iOS device constantly. This means you can drive it in a firstperson view, which is useful, because its sharp handling is often difficult to get to grips with when looking down at it zipping around the floor. You steer by tilting the iOS device, and move a slider to go forward or back. Cleverly, it offers swipe control for 90° or 180° turns on the spot, which makes life a lot easier.
The jumping is a dramatic affair, with a lever at the back pulling into the Jumping Sumo and then firing out to send it springing from the floor. It makes a pretty big noise but works really well, and with practice you can leap it up onto chairs and then tables, to the dismay/fury of everyone nearby. After a jump it tends to tumble around, but makes an effort to stabilise itself so it doesn’t fling away too far. With some one-tap movement options for showing off (such as spinning on the spot) it’s impressive to play with and, crucially, it’s robust, too.
The big downside is its 20-minute battery life, which runs out just as you’re really getting into the swing, usually. Also, if you want to record its video feed, you need to attach a USB drive, which is a bit clunky. Still, the key thing is it’s massively, stupidly good fun. Matt Bolton
Ludicrously good fun to send zipping around, and the jumping is great. Shame about the battery life.