While the most recent Android smartphone-controlled device that’s anywhere near a car has been the Sphero, a device much more along the lines of an RC-object, the fine folks at Desk Pets have taken an alternate approach: make the tiniest tank in the world, make it in several colors, make it smartphone controllable, and price it cheap! That’s what we like to hear for the next generation of new smartphone adopters, those thinking they need a high-priced smartphone to run anything awesome. I say thee nay! The future is here! Tiny little RC cars that are inexpensive and can be run with any Android you’ve got!

The shape of the TankBot is much closer to a vehicle you’d see in a concept auto show than it is to a traditional army tank, but it does have the tracks it needs to get over some slight adverse terrain. That said, it’s certainly not the most versatile or the fastest vehicle on Earth, that’s for certain. You can pick up green, blue, orange, or dark gray, they’re mostly made of plastic. You’ve only to charge them up via USB for 40 minutes and you’ll get a full 15 minutes of sweet remote action. Not enough for you? Maybe if I add the fact that it’s got headlights that flash when the toy is idle?

How about this: the entire little rig will cost you only $24.99 – almost certainly the least expensive smartphone controlled RC car on the market. These little guys will be hitting your local Toys R’ Us and Radio Shack immediately if not soon. Also there’s a couple of videos to tantalize your senses here, one of them showing how you can let the little guy loose in a maze and have it navigate automatically without any controls from you, the other showing one of the cars racing a Porsche Carrera S – a $100,000 car made for speed!

Guess who wins!