Some games are just born cool. Anki Drive – now upgraded to Anki Overdrive with a new track and models being presented at the New York Toy Fair – is one of those. For most of us, the very first time we found out about robotic “drone” cars, controlled through iOS mobile devices was, on the stage at one of Apple’s yearly presentations. To be honest the robotic cars stumbled a little at first, but the idea was so fascinating that barely anyone remembers.
Now Anki cars are really making it into the consumer market, which is a big feat for any new product not produced or distributed by toy market giants such as Hasbro, Mattel or Disney. The newest version, Anki Overdrive, is set to hit the market on September 20th with a starter kit priced at $149.99 for a basic track that just looks plain awesome. So, how do you make something this cool stand out against all other toys at the Toy Fair? You turn to 3D printing, of course.
Specifically in this case, Anki turned to the Guild, a studio collective of designers based in Brooklyn, Portland, and LA. The Guild’s team created a “dynamic tradeshow experience by planning a futuristic city”. The Guild team reported that all architectural structures, intertwined with the Anki Overdrive track parts, were designed in-house and 3D printed via Makerbot 3D printers. “Once the sculptures were affixed to the support structures, a racing city of the future was born.” The build was exhibited at the NY Toy Fair last February and then moved to Anki’s offices in San Francisco.
Launching just a few weeks from today, Anki Overdrive introduces a new era of highly detailed robotic supercars that you can control or battle. The supercars are customizable with hundreds of new virtual weapons, upgrades, and special items for all-out vehicular mayhem. Cutting-edge AI allows each car to fully control itself on the track and use diverse strategies to fight to the finish. Not sure how many hours of 3D printing it would take to create a physical background such as this one, nor how many add-ons you would have to buy; the result, though, looks definitely worth it.
