Although creating a robot designed especially to work as a long-range voyeur doesn't seem like the most moral (or ethical) thing to do, that's exactly what the people over at Meccano have managed to achieve with their Spykee. Moreover, since it's a Meccano product, you'll get to build you own Spykee, since the little robot comes in a box, as a kit, accompanied by an assembly manual.



When finished, the Spykee can be described as a rather unobtrusive presence, as it measures just around 35cm x 20cm x 20cm, at a weight of under 3 kilos. The fact that it's so tiny makes it perfect for all sorts of covert operations, mostly related to the spying of friends and close relatives.



Thus, since the Spykee is a designed, first and foremost, as a communication tool, it has been equipped with a web camera, which can shoot videos and snapshots at 320x240 pixels resolutions and broadcast them either locally or long-range (at 15 fps). Moreover, it sports a built-in microphone and a VoIP phone, which allows users to communicate via Skype.



The Spykee can also be employed as some sort of surveillance tool, since is has been equipped with motion detection sensors. Thus, whenever it detects movement in one's home, it can activate an alarm on one's computer or send them an e-mail.



Like most other robots, the Spykee is powered by a rechargeable battery, which is juiced up via a special charge base. So, whenever it detects a low battery level, the robot automatically returns to the charge base, without any human intervention.



The Meccano Spykee robot sells at various retailers for around 400 US dollars, which might seem like a large sum for such a toy, but it's actually pretty worth it, given just how funny this thing can prove to be around the house.