FUNPAW Playbot Q Pet Camera & Pet Feeder: Play, Video Chat & Feed Your Cat/Dog from Anywhere; Fully Mobile

This will probably be super fun for your pet - it is for mine!My main problem with the unit is the lack of useful documentation. The user manual, as it stands, is pretty unhelpful, and there’s no online FAQ to make up for it. I’m told this is being fixed (their customer service people have been great, btw). In the meantime, though, I’ll try to offer some tips based on what I learned.First, up, what I like about it: It's fun!Seriously, while I assume it differs from pet to pet (e.g., my dog has zero use for the laser pointer, but I know other dogs and cats that love them), I'd be surprised it doesn't provide some serious entertainment and engagement for most pets.The controls are a bit cumbersome, and the visibility in low light conditions is lacking (you’ll want to keep the room lights on). But it's still functional. And precision isn't absolutely necessary to do its main job: engage your pet.Larger treats go into the feeding mechanism (which, I assume, will be used by many people for feeding schedules rather than for play...I haven't tested out the timer since I don't use it for that). Pill-sized treats shoot out of the top. And you can follow or run away from your pet, who, if it's like mine, will immediately launch into an exciting game of "steal the treat from the robot before the robot catches you" routine.It's not a perfect product – the treat shooter can be a bit finicky, the lights are bright to look at but don’t seem to light up what you see on your phone screen, and though it’s not fair to expect it at this price point, a charging dock would be nice (instead of a cord that has to be manually plugged into the unit). But I can honestly say that it’s as much fun as my dog as had with anything I’ve bought for him in a very long time!====TIPS====Like I said earlier, this part of the review will hopefully become irrelevant, since the distributor reached out to me and said the manufacturer is in the process of creating a new manual and online FAQ. For early adopters like me, though, hopefully this will help you start playing w/ your pet right away.And if you figure stuff out, you can post it in your review for everyone else! (I haven’t had much time to play around w/ it when I’m away from home, for example. Does it work over LTE or do you need WiFi? I’ve no idea. Also, since I have hard floors, I don't know how well it does w/ carpet.)*** TIP #1 *** This is the BIGGEST tip of all! It’s soooo basic, but your unit won’t function w/o it. Ready? This is what you need to know: there’s a hidden power button underneath the unit, right in the middle on the back side (non-feeder tray side). The current manual points to the power button on the robot’s “head” and suggests that after pushing it you're good to go! Not true! The head rests on the base, and while it does have a connector with metal bands, you MUST also push the hidden power button for the base to function.If you don’t, the feeder won’t work, and your robot won’t move…meaning you’ll try again and again to use the remote controls on the app screen, but nothing will happen.Anyway, yeah, the problem is ridiculously simple: the base needs power too. So push its power button! If it had been visible, or mentioned in the manual, everyone would do it! But since it’s underneath the unit, it’s super easy to miss.*** TIP #2 *** There are TWO charging slots. You only get one power cord. But both the “head” and the “base” of the robot have places to plug it in. The manual seems to suggest (at least, the way I read it) that you only have to use one of these slots. I used them both. I honestly don’t know if this matters, but if you charge up just the head or just the base, and it’s still not working, you might try charging up both. (For how long? No idea. I also don’t know if there’s a way to tell how “charged up” the head or base is.)*** TIP #3 *** Not really a tip, just a note about the treat shooter up top. It works and is fun. But at first mine wasn't shooting the treats out. I wish I could give you some specific technical advice on how to get it going, but the truth is that I just “messed with it” until it worked. :) I really just took the top off, inserted smaller treats to make sure they weren't stopping it from spinning, jiggled the tray around a bit and made sure it was pushed down all the way, and it started working. I’d say it works 80% of the time now. And it usually seems to fix itself when it doesn't, i.e., if I press the “snack” button and it doesn't shoot out, it often will the next time.*** TIP #4 *** If your room is mostly or completely dark, turn the room lights on. :) Sounds obvious. I found that the robot’s headlights weren't bright enough to be terribly useful when navigating via the app. But you know what? I don’t usually play w/ my dog in total darkness anyway. I suppose it could be nice if I was away from home and he was in a part of the house w/o light…maybe they can add “night vision” to the next one, if that’s something a lot of people want.*** TIP #5 *** This is also not really a tip, just a heads-up. The power buttons do a lot more than just turn the head or base on/off. I’m not really sure how to work them or what they’re capable of. I just know short and long presses – maybe double presses too? – seem to do different things. It can tell you, for example, its product number and how strong the current WiFi signal it's receiving is. It also has a “configuration mode”, though I’m a bit afraid to try that one, since I don’t know what it does, e.g., “configure” the robot’s language to be Chinese or Japanese? :) You can experiment if you want. I just use it to turn the robot on/off.*** TIP #6 *** If you’re too close to the robot, its speaker will emit some pretty loud and annoying feedback. One of the product’s benefits is two-way communication b/w your phone and the robot, so you can hear and also talk to your pet. If you hear feedback, step away from the robot.====================BOTTOM LINE VERDICT====================Once you get it working – it sounds incredibly obvious, but the keys here are to turn both power buttons on and make sure the battery is charged – it really does do its main job very well: entertain your pet!It’s not perfect, but to expect much more – like a docking station (allowing you to charge it on the road, when you're not there to physically plug the cord in) or higher build quality (its build quality is similar to the plastic Petzi Treatcam that I have) – would probably mean a much higher price point (and my dog sure doesn't notice this!).At the end of the day, whenever I think about its shortcomings…I see how happy my dog is, and I’m glad that we have it.

I just got this in the mail (paid $140) and I have mixed feelings about it.Pros: looks really cool, easy setup, a lot of “off the shelf parts” for easy repairs/upgrades.Cons: treat mechanism does not work well, app does not allow you to recalibrate allignment (does not drive perfectly straight), no way to shut laser off.So as soon as I got it, I started filling it with treats to try it out. After dropping 2 treats, the clicking mechanism still sounded but no more treats would come out. When I opened the treat door, I found that the wheel was jammed, and not flush with the tray. Because the wheel isn’t flush, the lid appears to jam the motor (I may try to fashion my own mechanism to dispense treats as an alternative to the current wheel).I can’t shut the laser off. There is no on/off switch for it which is annoying. I don’t always want to be shining a laser in my pets eyes.The camera is obviously not great (read the specs on it), but it’s not that bad either. The images are pretty clear and the lag time in video is comparable to a cheaper fpv drone (it’s significant, but you can still navigate using the camera with some patrience).The food dispenser is cute and works well. I wish it would let you directly select a specific food tray/ then return to a default afterwards. I have 4/5 treat doors filled and one of those compartments if for the Cat. I would love to be able to specifically select the Cat tray, etc easily.All that being said, I haven’t used long enough to run the battery down, but the specs for it are impressive. When you close the app, the robot goes into stand by. (Can be restarted at any time without physically having to turn it on and off)I also like how the components for it seem to be off the shelf: basic servo’s, camera, castor wheel, speakers, etc. I feel like this would be a fun project to tinker with and try to upgrade in the future.Overall, it’s an impressive little robot with a fun design. It has a nice battery life, but it’s processor/camera/etc are really lacking. It’s pretty slow (But it’s designed to be around pets so that’s not a bad thing). The app is a bit too basic for this particular gadget and I would love to see improvements in the future.The petbot q is a two part system. The bottom section (rover) is pretty great. It looks good and it’s built solid. The “Egg” acts as the brain, and you can’t use the rover without it. The Egg needs improvement. Ideally, I would love it if the company went back to the drawing board with the egg because In its current form, it’s not ready for prime time.

First off - the product came in a huge shipping box, which had another box in it, which contained the box for the product. Huge waste of packaging to me but I know that this isnt necessarily the manufacturers fault.This could be better. As many other reviews have stated, the instructions do NOT help you setup the bot at all.I was disappointed that the laser does not have its own directional control to leave the robot in place but to move the laser around and play with our cat. The feeder tray also gets stuck when trying to turn past 1 specific tray. We just marked that tray and helped it along since we dont really use the feeder tray because the scheduling feature for the feeder tray doesnt seem to work.In addition, was very disappointed that both the top portions have to be charged separately and didnt come with 2 chargers. Wish they could configure the bot for the 2 portions to operate and charge in unison. turned both portions on and off is not self explanatory either. Took a lot of playing around. Lastly - I wish they angled the camera so that you could see the feeding tray so you could know if it turned properly or not. Since the whole point of the bot is to check on your pet while youre away, it would make sense to have a visual way to ensure that they have been fed.