(Image credit: Paul Antill / Tom's Guide)
As a content creator, I've spent years testing and using the best drones to get unique shots of myself that a camera on a tripod can't match. But now that I live in NYC, where flying a drone is mostly illegal, I've sadly had to keep my camera escapades mostly grounded. But what if I could still capture dynamic tracking clips without ever taking off?That's the question I had with Beni, a cute two wheeled camera robot from Mondo Robotics. I've put this little guy through hell challenging it to follow me as I offroaded my E-bike, explored abandoned structures and crashed it more times than I care to admit.It's two adorable eyes and little (another word for cute) chirps made me feel bad for how bad I've banged him up, but Beni has proven to me he's not just a "toy".Who is Beni?
(Image credit: Paul Antill / Tom's Guide)Beni looks like something out of a Pixar short more than a piece of camera gear. It's small, roughly the size of a shoebox, with two big expressive eyes on its "head" that nods and shakes, and it's hard not to project a personality onto him.
(Image credit: Paul Antill / Tom's Guide)But under that cute exterior is a surprisingly capable machine.Beni moves on two motorized wheeled legs that bend and extend, accelerate up to 17.9 mph, lean into turns, crouch down, and spring upward, allowing him to hop curbs, perform flips or pick itself upright after it falls (which I sadly subjected him to many, many times).
