Somersaulting figure

A somersaulting figure comprising:

• a torso hingedly attached to a pair of legs;
• a head and a pair of poseable arms, which have a pre-determined position that assist the figure in performing a somersault;
• a motor mechanism attached to the torso and legs for moving the torso and legs towards and away from each other;
• a means for controlling the motor mechanism in accordance with a set of pre-programmed instructions that causes the figure to perform said somersault starting from and ending in a standing and upright position and further comprising a plurality of switches in communication with the control means such that the control means upon receiving a set of signals from the switches is able to determine a position of the figure.

A somersaulting toy figure comprising:

• a torso hingedly attached to a pair of legs, each leg further including a foot;
• a head and a pair of poseable arms, which have a pre-determined position that assists the toy figure in performing a somersault;
• a motor mechanism attached to the torso and legs for moving the torso and legs towards and away from each other;
• a means for controlling the motor mechanism such that the torso and legs move through a set of positions that causes the toy figure to perform a somersault, when the toy figure is in a standing and substantially upright position;
• a foot switch positioned beneath one of the feet such that the foot switch is activated when the toy figure is standing on a surface, the foot switch further being in communication with the controlling means such that the controlling means is able to determine when the toy figure is standing;
• and a pair of ball switches separately located in the torso and one of the legs, each ball switch further being in communication with the controlling means such that the controlling means is able to determine when the legs and torso are in a substantially upright position, whereby the controlling means upon detecting that the toy figure is in a substantially upright and standing position is able to move the toy figure through said set of positions causing the toy figure to perform a somersault.