Mike at Pleo Dreams has found a list of what looks like Pleo’s internal variables. I’ll include them after the jump. Interestingly though, one of them is “blood_sugar”. There are plenty of other interesting ones like, “picked_up”, “sound_direction”, “shake_present”, and “tilt_direction”.
I’m really excited about the though of all these variables being available in the upcoming SDK.
Via fescue’s Flickr photoset.
Blogger Mike, at Pleo’s Dreams blog, discovered Pleo’s debug port.
The port is under a glued-on piece of plastic next to Pleo’s power switch.
There’s a post on the PleoWorld forums about hacking Pleo’s battery.
The battery pack is a 7.2v pack made up of 6 2200mAh NiMH cells. NiMH’s have a nominal voltage of 1.2v each. The battery pack has three terminals – plus, minus and a thermistor to measure the temperature of the cells. One poster, “pleohacker” points out that since Pleo is running many motors and it’s electrical circuitry off the same pack, the cells need very low internal resistance in order to prevent the processors from shutting down (using a brownout circuit) when the cells voltage drops.
The thermistor may also be used to “nap” Pleo when the battery pack gets too hot. Any adventurous hackers out there have any comments?
I got my Pleo. Will post soon with results.
Here is a list of Pleo’s “life stages”, taken from the official instruction manual:
Life Stages
Pleo has three life stages, and his progress depends on your level of
interaction. Listen for his first sounds, look for his first steps, watch
how he adjusts to his world. As Pleo progresses through each
stage, he exhibits a broader range of movement and behaviors.
The Three Pleo Life Stages
Stage 1 – Birth
Duration: First 5-10 min., approx (depending on level of active interaction)What to Expect:
Pleo opens his eyes to both you and the world for the first time. He
starts to adapt to his environment. He is very slow, and his sensors are
not very responsive yet. The more you pet and nurture Pleo in this stage
the more confident he becomes and the faster he will develop. Pleo is
finished “hatching†when he is fully awake and stands up on all four feet.
Stage 2 – Hatchling
Duration: 30-45 min., approxWhat to Expect:
Pleo starts to exhibit basic behaviors and needs. He begs to be
fed, starts to walk, explores his environment, takes short naps like
a baby, and starts to exhibit a wider range of emotions.
Stage 3 – Juvenile
Duration: Indefinitely; the rest of his lifeWhat to Expect:
Pleo enters into his final stage of development. As he expands his
capacity to learn, he exhibits a full range of movement and behaviors.
He begins asserting a personality. You can’t go wrong (aside
from physically mistreating Pleo), so take your time to observe,
play and learn about Pleo.
Here’s a list of the things we are told not to do to Pleo, from the instruction manual:
• Abuse Pleo
• Get Pleo wet (cross off trips to the swimming pool)
• Throw, drop, or violently shake Pleo (isn’t this the same as #1)
• Sit on Pleo (awww … I was looking forward to this)
• Place Pleo near heat or flames (e.g. wall heaters, floor heaters, fires, stoves)
• Place Pleo in sand, soil, or mud (or water (see 2nd item). At least air is ok)
• Leave Pleo with other pets or animals capable of biting or damaging him (what about another Pleo?)
• Risk overheating Pleo by covering him with a blanket during play (what if he gets cold?)
• Allow small children to play with Pleo unsupervised
Please note: Failure to abide by these guidelines may void Warranty.
Seriously, doesn’t this seem a bit extreme?
Note: Looks like Engadget totally beat me to this. Darn!
Fast Company has listed Pleo as a possible Christmas hype toy. What do you think?
Furby creator Caleb Chung is back with a robotic dinosaur–the Pleo’s marketers prefer to call it a “life form”–that’s stirring some of the year’s biggest buzz. Modeled on a juvenile camarasaur, the Pleo has two microprocessors and nearly 40 sensors. All that wiring means the creature can develop its own personality based on its experiences and respond to stimuli–speech, touch, screaming–from people as well as other Pleos. Artificial “life forms” don’t come cheap; the Pleo costs $349.
Here’s an article about Pleo on CNN Money’s website.
The 20-inch-long toy is a much-anticipated robotic device named Pleo, and it will finally ship next month to consumers after a year’s delay. Created by the same team who brought the world the Furby, the Pleo will also mark an advance in robotics, as it packs much of the functionality of far more expensive robotics toys into a much lower cost design.
The article mainly compares Pleo to Sony’s Aibo. David Calkins says Pleo, “is about one-fifth the cost of the Aibo, but it still has about half of Aibo’s functionality.”
Another interesting tidbit is that Pleo’s software was written in a programming language called “Pawn.” Robots.net has more info on this programming language and how it might be used on Pleo.
I4U News is reporting that Pleo will be featured on the Good Morning America show tomorrow morning (Thurs. Nov. 29th). This is a major American morning news show, and should bolster Pleo sales quite nicely. If you’re planning on buying a Pleo for Christmas, you’d better buy now! Due to the limited number of Pleo’s available, they may sell out.
Note: It looks like this may have gotten bumped to Friday, the 30th or later.
