Recently, Judie did a post about the FunSlides Carpet Skates. Because of a technical glitch with our email server, I never got the team email about reviewing them. It was after Judie did her write up on the skates that I thought to myself, these may be just the thing to solve the problem my Robosapien robots have with walking on carpet. I mentioned this to Judie, and she thought it would be a great idea to let the bots volunteer.
The FunSlides Carpet Skates come in six color choices, blue, silver, red, purple and hot pink. I was sent the silver color Carpet Skates. Out of the box they are ready to wear and are made of a hard plastic with a very smooth finish. They say that the plastic is friction-resistant and the side which makes contact with the carpet does feel slippery. On the top side where the feet go, is mounted a foam grip pad with the product name printed on it. This appears to be glued to the plastic, and it feels very secure and I do not think anyone will experience that part coming off. To secure the Carpet Skates, there are hook and loop straps.
These straps adjust to fit feet of children six years old and everyone in between to Adults with a size 15. The Carpet Skates even fit both Robosapien and Robosapien version two without any modifications.
The picture above is R2 wearing the skates, and the picture below is Robo taking his turn trying them.
Upon closer inspection of the Carpet Skates, they are identical, meaning that there is no left or right skate. Both are designed to fit on either left or right foot. So people with two left feet or two right feet have nothing to worry about. Just in case there is question as to which way is front and back, these are printed on the skates to indicate the proper direction for wearing. The following picture shows the front label on the left and the back label on the right.
The proper wearing of the skates is illustrated in the following two pictures.
As you can see from the above pictures, the U part of the elastic is the back and the hook and loop (velcro) goes on the top of the foot.
The friction-resistant material of the Carpet Skates performs very well on the carpet of my home, both Robosapiens are able to glide about effortlessly. Below is the view of the bottom of one of the skates, its surface is very slick to the touch. On the bottom front part are ridges for getting traction on the carpet. These ridges perform pretty well when you do not want to slide, but would rather walk on the carpet.
R2 was not able to turn left or right. It seems that the weight and balance of the robot combined with the slickness of the skates had the robot just making the moving motions in the same spot. Robo was able to make the turns slowly with the skates (as you will see in the video).
There is one added benefit of using the Carpet Skates for R2: balance support on the carpet. On carpet, R2 sometimes leans too far forward or back and ends up falling over. While wearing the skates, R2 had enough length added to his feet to prevent falling.
After the testing of the Carpet Skates with the robots, I decided to try them out for myself. I was able to glide my feet across the carpet with a smooth forward motion and also slide sideways too. My fear of falling or bumping into furniture did prevent me from building up momentum and speed.
Now comes the unhappy part of my review, at least where I am concerned. While I have recently started an exercise program, it appears that I am not entirely in shape for this type of physical activity. The sideways moving motions seem to have stressed my muscles and nerve endings in a way that aggravated a previous lower back injury into recurring. This had me sore and hurting for about a week. I do not imply that the Carpet Skates are unsafe, however; they are as safe as any kind of skates. It is up to the wearer to use caution and common sense in regards to their safety. The Carpet Skates are fun for gliding around on the carpet, and I feel people of all ages -including Robosaopian robots – will enjoy them.
The FunSlides Carpet Skates is available from www.funslides.com and select retail stores.
MSRP: $19.99
What I Like: One size fits all. Available in six different colors.
What Needs Improvement: None.
Technorati: Funslides, Robosapien, Toys, Allen Hong, Gear Diary
