Pleo

Last updated
Pleo Robot Pleo robot.jpg
Pleo Robot

PLEO is an animatronic pet dinosaur toy manufactured by Innvo Labs, a company located in Hong Kong and Nevada. [1] The toy has the appearance and (imagined) behavior of a week-old baby Camarasaurus dinosaur. It was designed by Caleb Chung, the co-creator of the Furby, Chung's company Ugobe first sold Pleo and was manufactured by Jetta Company Limited. [2] The species of dinosaur chosen allows for concealing the sensors and motors needed for the animation, since it has a big body shape and relatively large head. According to their website, each Pleo would "learn" from its experiences and environment through artificial intelligence and develop an individual personality.

Contents

PLEO was unveiled on February 7, 2006, at the DEMO Conference in Scottsdale, Arizona, and was expected to come on the Indian and American markets around Fall 2007. PLEO shipments started on December 5, 2007.

In April 2009, Ugobe laid off all of its employees and filed for bankruptcy.

On June 8, 2009, the original PLEO manufacturer Jetta announced it is re-launching Pleo and are continuing the line including accessories such as the vital battery and battery charger components. Since 14 July 2009, PLEO is owned by Innvo Labs Corporations (a division of Jetta).

In December 2011, the second generation, PLEO rb, was first launched in America, Europe and Hong Kong where Innvo Labs headquarters are located.

On July 10, 2017, the NPR "Hidden Brain" interviewer Shankar Vedantam used a Pleo robot on the stage of the "Aspen Ideas Festival" to illustrate some issues of "robot ethics" while interviewing Kate Darling of MIT's Media Lab. [3]

Features

Ugobe bankruptcy

Beginning in December 2008, Pleoworld.com began to experience technical problems. By the Christmas holidays, Pleoworld was offline, including the user forums. After the holidays, both Pleoworld and Ugobe's official websites displayed updating website messages. Both sites returned sometime at the beginning of 2009, and Ugobe's official website updated its board of directors listing. Ugobe stated that the problems were due to the company's relocation but had not explained why the user forums had not been restored.

Wired News reported the company's outlook was not good, and it struggled to save itself from extinction as it tried to raise new funding and keep its pipeline of products alive.

From November 2008, the company saw a host of top management departures, including two CEOs. It also moved its office to California, paring down its marketing and Public Relations staff to weather the current economic storm. (This may be the reason for Pleoworld's demise.) Emails to the company's media contact on its website bounced back, and phone calls to its corporate office were not answered.

In July 2008, Ugobe CEO Bob Christopher stepped down, and former CFO Liz Gasper retook control of the company. Christopher said he left the company to move on to other ventures. Gasper had focused on cutting down the company's burn rate and finding new funding.

With the collapse of the United States credit environment, though, fundraising came to a halt. Meanwhile, the company's entire board of directors resigned before December 2008, giving control of Ugobe back to the co-founders.

Ugobe also closed its Emeryville, California, office and moved all operations to its new offices in Boise, Idaho. The company then had about twenty employees.

It had become extremely difficult for new PLEOs owners or existing members of the website to access the official forums and Plogs. In the wake of these problems, a loyal fan has set up a forum for members to join to talk about Pleo, get the latest Pleo news, and download firmware updates for Pleo.

On April 17, 2009, Ugobe filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy and halted the production of new PLEOs.

Jetta acquired PLEO

On June 8, 2009, Jetta acquired PLEO and later in July, Innvo Labs was founded for the development of PLEO business while Jetta continued to manufacture for the PLEO line. Innvo Labs is a division of Jetta and is a privately held company based in Hong Kong. Jetta and Innvo Labs is committed to re-launch the PLEO line and continue the line of products including accessories such as the recovery battery and charger components for Ugobe PLEO. In order to strengthen its brand, Innvo Labs is decided to enhance their customer service, and so set up a customer service hotline and email to collect public opinions and reply to customer inquiries on PLEO and PLEO rb.

PLEO rb

In December 2011, the latest iteration, the PLEO rb (Standing for ReBorn), was invented and released. PLEO rb is similar to the original PLEO. However, no two units are exactly alike: each PLEO rb comes with randomly selected eyeball, eyelid and eye-shadow colours. The skin is always a slightly different hue of green. A special line of pink or blue PLEO rb were released in late 2012. PLEO rb has more senses than the original. The enhancements include:

  1. Eyes: It can now recognise colors and patterns; it can also detect drop-offs so it steps back from the risk of falling.
  2. Ears: It can hear, and will turn towards the source. Owners can name it and teach it verbal commands using "learning stones".
  3. Nose and mouth: It can sense what kind of "food" or "medicine" owners are feeding and then it will choose to eat or not according to its simulated needs and wants.
  4. Skin: It can sense the temperature of its surroundings and react accordingly; it can sense whether it is being petted or hit and react to touch.
  5. Time: It can recognize the time to wake up, eat and sleep.

There are altogether 9 new kinds of food and medicine items made for PLEO rb in different health and life situations and 7 new "learning stones": these can teach PLEO rb how to bow, dance, sign, walk towards their owner, play games, etc.

PLEO rb is designed to behave like a life-form, with 4 distinct life stages. When unboxed, it behaves like a newborn and needs to be "hatched" and brought up. With proper care, it will "grow up" into a juvenile after about two days. It starts to stand and walk smoothly during its teenage stage, and can then be taught to recognize its name. As owners continue to teach verbal commands, it will get to the mature stage and all features will be fully enabled. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lego Mindstorms</span> Hardware and software platform by Lego

Lego Mindstorms was a discontinued hardware and software structure which develops programmable robots based on Lego building blocks. Each version includes computer Lego bricks, a set of modular sensors and motors, and parts from the Lego Technic line to create the mechanical systems. The system is controlled by the Lego bricks which act as the brain of the mechanical system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roomba</span> Series of autonomous robotic vacuum cleaners sold by iRobot

Roomba is a series of autonomous robotic vacuum cleaners made by the company iRobot. Introduced in September 2002, they have a set of sensors that enable them to navigate the floor area of a home. These sensors can detect the presence of obstacles, particularly dirty spots on the floor, and steep drops.

iRobot American technology company that produces consumer robots

iRobot Corporation is an American technology company that designs and builds consumer robots. It was founded in 1990 by three members of MIT's Artificial Intelligence Lab, who designed robots for space exploration and military defense. The company's products include a range of autonomous home vacuum cleaners (Roomba), floor moppers (Braava), and other autonomous cleaning devices.

Motion detection is the process of detecting a change in the position of an object relative to its surroundings or a change in the surroundings relative to an object. It can be achieved by either mechanical or electronic methods. When it is done by natural organisms, it is called motion perception.

i-Cybie

i-Cybie (爱赛比) is a robotic pet that resembles a dog. It was manufactured by Silverlit Toys Manufactory Ltd Hong Kong from 2000 to 2006. i-Cybie was developed for commercial distribution by Tiger Electronics. Outrageous International Hong Kong distributed the electronic pet from 2005 to 2006. The i-Cybie robotic dog responds to sound, touch, movement, and voice commands. The toy robot can autonomously recharge its batteries using a special docking station. I-Cybie was the first mass-produced toy that used advanced voice recognition technology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wakamaru</span>

Wakamaru is a Japanese robot made by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries that is intended to perform natural communication with human beings. The yellow, 3-foot domestic robot debuted in 2005 at a $14,300-$15,000 USD price-point exclusively for Japanese households. Through its development, the Wakamaru has been used for presenting at exhibitions, guiding customers, and working as a desk receptionist. However, the Wakamaru has not advanced beyond its first model that was released in 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foster-Miller TALON</span> American tracked military robot

The Foster-Miller TALON is a remotely operated vehicle, and it is a small, tracked military robot designed for missions ranging from reconnaissance to combat. It is made by the American robotics company QinetiQ-NA, a subsidiary of QinetiQ.

Parallax Inc. is a privately held company in Rocklin, California. Parallax Inc. designs, manufactures, and sells BASIC Stamp microcontrollers, Propeller microcontrollers, microcontroller accessories, educational robot kits, and educational curriculum.

The Roboreptile is a toy robot by WowWee. The Roboreptile has infrared and sound sensors, and is able to autonomously explore its environment while avoiding obstacles. It can also operate in different modes where it simulates behaviors of real animals. It is able to rear up on its hind legs and attack. Roboreptile was released in China on the 28 April 2006 and to the rest of the world later that year. It is superficially similar to a theropod or a prosauropod dinosaur but being quadrupedal it's better equated to a silesaurid or a monitor lizard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lego Mindstorms NXT</span> Programmable robotics kit

Lego Mindstorms NXT is a programmable robotics kit released by Lego on August 2, 2006. It replaced the first-generation Lego Mindstorms kit, which was called the Robotics Invention System. The base kit ships in two versions: the Retail Version and the Education Base Set. It comes with the NXT-G programming software, or optionally LabVIEW for Lego Mindstorms. A variety of unofficial languages exist, such as NXC, NBC, leJOS NXJ, and RobotC. The second generation of the set, the Lego Mindstorms NXT 2.0, was released on August 1, 2009, featuring a color sensor and other upgraded capabilities. The third generation, the EV3, was released in September 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Push the Talking Trash Can</span>

Push the Talking Trash Can was a radio-controlled robot which made daily rounds throughout Tomorrowland at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure Park, Hong Kong Disneyland park, Disneyland Paris, Tokyo Disneyland in Japan and formerly the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Teledyne FLIR</span> U.S. technology company

Teledyne FLIR LLC, formerly FLIR Systems Inc,, a subsidiary of Teledyne Technologies, specializes in the design and production of thermal imaging cameras and sensors. Its main customers are governments and in 2020, approximately 31% of its revenues were from the federal government of the United States and its agencies.

The Battlefield Extraction-Assist Robot (BEAR) is a remotely controlled robot developed by Vecna Robotics for use in the extraction of wounded soldiers from the battlefield with no risk to human life. The humanoid robot uses a powerful hydraulics system to carry humans and other heavy objects over long distances and rough terrain, such as stairs.

Referred to as "The first true robotic arthropod," Roboquad is one of the 5 robots that WowWee announced at CES in January 2007. It is a 4-legged robot that somewhat resembles a spider and a dog. Also designed by Mark Tilden, the Roboquad, like other WowWee robots, has multiple personalities, awareness of its surroundings, some autonomous behaviour and can be controlled via a remote.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hexbug</span> Robotic insect toy automatons

HEXBUG is a brand of infrared and automaton toys developed and distributed by Innovation First International. HEXBUG uses many elements used in BEAM robotics. First piloted in the US through RadioShack, HEXBUG is now sold in most major retail stores. The original Hexbugs are based on six-legged arthropods but now come in several different varieties. The name "HEXBUG" relates to the six-sided packaging it is sold in, rather than to its number of legs.

Genibo is a robotic dog produced by the Korean company Dasarobot of Dasatech.

Dexter Industries is a company that designs robots for education, research, and personal use. The company makes several products that expand the LEGO Mindstorms, Raspberry Pi and Arduino prototype system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Counter-IED equipment</span>

Counter-IED equipment are created primarily for military and law enforcement. They are used for standoff detection of explosives and explosive precursor components and defeating the Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) devices themselves as part of a broader counter-terrorism, counter-insurgency, or law enforcement effort.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murata Boy and Murata Girl</span>

Murata Boy and Murata Girl are two self-balancing robots developed by Murata Manufacturing, a Japanese electronic components company. The company developed the robots to showcase a range of their products and generate publicity. The robots are designed to be as energy-efficient as possible, both in their basic technological components and through features like automatic sleep mode.

The Sony Xperia XA Ultra is an Android smartphone manufactured by Sony Mobile Communications. It was announced in May 2016 and was released in July 2016.

References

  1. ↑ "PLEOworld about". PLEOworld. Innvo Labs. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
  2. ↑ Jetta Company Limited
  3. ↑ Darling, Kate; Lab, MIT Media. "Can Robots Teach Us What It Means To Be Human?". NPR.org. Retrieved 2017-08-27.
  4. ↑ "PLEOworld Lifeform". PLEOworld. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.