PLEO ROBOPET FROM UGOBE

Pleo Camarasaurus Robopet introduced

Pre-historic robotic life stirs.. also winks, coughs and yawns

10 February 2006

BY A CORRESPONDENT

Not exactly a lizard lover? Maybe Pleo can change your mind. Furby creator Caleb Chung's UGOBE, a company that develops and markets revolutionary robotic technology that transforms inanimate objects into lifelike creatures, has come up with the first "Designer Life Form." They are calling it a 'robopet' and they are also calling it Pleo.

Pleo is a robopet modeled on a 1-week old Camarasaurus (Greek for 'chamber lizard'), and can relate to humanity on a personal level. It runs on UGOBE's "Life Operating System," its robotic motion platform enables it to move in a fluid, lifelike way. It can receive sensory output through 38 touch, motion, toe, light and sound sensors that include infrared and stereophonic sound.

It can also do cute things like twitching, sneezing, sniffing, yawning, chomping, coughing, and blinking. Additionally, it can interact with behaviors, moods, and desires one could normally expect from a week old sauropod. Pleo is also a social being, apart from emotions such as anger, boredom, playfulness, hunting, cautious, cuddling, disgust, disorientation, distress, fear, curiosity, joy, sorrow, surprise, fatigue, hunger, he also expresses a desire for social interaction.

Pleo operates freely with his owner and environment without any remote control over his movements. He is conscious of himself and his environment and his behaviour even evolves over time. He can avoid obstacles and not walk off edges, can detect a music beat and even communicate other UGOBE life forms.

Commenting on the achievement, Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies at UGOBE said, "With this flagship product, UGOBE has shown that they are a forward-thinking company that sees the shift within the industry toward interactive organic robotics." According to the company's CEO, "UGOBE's goal is to re-animate life by transforming inanimate objects into lifelike creatures exhibiting organic movement and behaviors." He added, "Through evolving companionship, Pleo will suspend disbelief by bringing magic
and beauty to life."

Pleo can be upgraded, contains an SD memory expansion card, a rechargeable battery, and will cost $199 on its release in Q3 2006. Pleo should be a great companion for the kids, definitely. So is a UGOBE companion for Pleo also underway?