My colleague Jeffrey Kerr created this beautiful version of my "walking gyro," which I invented in 1980 as part of a toy contest sponsored by Mattel. A line of remote control  models  was a big seller in Japan (Bandai). Tonka was planning on incorporating it into the "Gobot" line---not long before they decided to end that line altogether. Timing is everything!

With the "Vocolo,"  if you can hum, you can play an instrument!  The technology was used in  a popular toy at Sharper Image for a couple years (the "Saxxy") around 2005. The technology was also licenced to Yamaha for their "EZ Trumpet."  This was a version for the iPhone.  Sadly, not many people can sing accurately enough to get a good sound. 

I designed  this under a joint research project created by my Stanford advisor,  Larry Leifer,  and "Vic" Vykukal,  chief designer for advanced spacesuits at NASA Ames. The Challenger Shuttle accident in 1986 eliminated further funding for the program. The aim was to replace spacesuit gloves, which can be quite difficult to operate for long periods due to the internal air pressure's effect on the mobility.