PleoBot.com – Pleo The Dinosaur

Funny.

Ugobe is releasing some video previews of Pleo in the months before his release. The first video, “Behind The Scenes – The Making of Pleo” gives a basic overview of Ugobe and their mission as a company – recreating life and giving people and experience with their lifeforms.

The video features Caleb Chung, the creator of Pleo, and Bob Christopher, the CEO of Ugobe. The video also features plenty of shots of Pleo talking and moving, shots of Caleb’s original drawings for Pleo, and video of and initial version of Pleo from October 2003.

Ultimately, Caleb says, Pleo is about blending art and science. Check out the video below. Also stay tuned for the next installment on August 17th, “Caleb’s Tour of UGOBE Labs.”

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The news from Ugobe is that Pleo is now sold-out for 2007 in the online store. The good news for those of us that haven’t gotten one yet, is that he’ll still be available in several retail outlets. You can find more information on the website.

Just announce today, Pleo is available for Pre-Order! For those of you on the Ugobe mailing list, you should be receiving an email containing a code to allow you to order a Special Edition Pleo.

Pleo’s cost is $350, to which Ugobe says,

“Pleo’s final price is $349. Higher than anticipated, we know! The change allows us to build in higher quality components and features such as a replaceable battery to ensure that you have a great owner experience”

The other bad news is that Pleo won’t arrive until October. The long wait still isn’t over.

Don’t forget that today, April 9th, is supposedly the day that Ugobe will announce the winners to their essay contest.

You can check on updates here.

Good luck everyone!

Shortly after my post about Trossen Robotics offering Pleo for preorder, I received the following comment from Ugobe:

My name is Julie Crabill and I work with UGOBE on the PR front. UGOBE has not officially begun any pre-orders for Pleo. The Trossen Robotics pre-order page was put up in response to unsanctioned communication from one of our partners. The page is in the process of being removed however there is likelihood that other sites may follow suit and you can be sure that we will ask for a similar response, ie. the removal of any pre-sell information. UGOBE has not confirmed retail channel partners, the official date we will begin taking pre-orders or the official date Pleo will ship. Once we have this information, we will share it openly with consumers, media and bloggers alike and issue press releases accordingly. Sorry for any confusion on this. Sit tight, Pleo is on the way this summer!

The emphasis was added by me.
I must say this is a strange twist of events. How do confuse this issue? Perhaps we’ll have to get in touch with Trossen for further details.

Trossen Robotics is offering preorders on Pleo. They are charging $350 and are estimating Pleo will ship around July 2007.

This will buy you a Pleo, a companion guide, AC charger, “training device” and a warranty card. Also listed are the latest technical specs on Pleo:

Pleo Technical Specs:

• Ugobe LifeOS
• 32 bit Atmel ARM 7 microprocessor – The main processor for Pleo
• 16 bit sub processor – The processor dedicated to the camera system
• (4) 8 bit processors that provide the low-level motor control for the servos
• (35) Sensors including a camera custom designed to fit into Pleo’s very compact body.
• (4) foot-switches to detect footfalls and being picked up – assists with spatial orientation.
• (12) capacitive touch sensors (4) legs, (4) feet, back, shoulder, head, chin
• (2) microphones for directional sound detection
• (14) “Force” sensors, one per servo, to recognize abuse through force feedback joints.
• Orientation/tilt sensor
• IR transceiver for bidirectional data communication with other Pleos.
• IR interrupter for detection of objects in Pleo’s mouth
• (14) motors. Standard low voltage DC motors
• (150) gears and clutches
• Rechargeable NiMH battery pack
• USB port with mini USB connector
• SD/MMC memory card slot

$350 is pretty stiff. Already that’s over $150 what we first thought Pleo was going to sell for. It seems to me that going from $250 to $350 put Pleo in a different ball game. How will folks respond?

Caleb Chung has written to the fans of Pleo to say that our little dino-babe will be delayed. Some of the reasons given for the delay are to improve Pleo’s sounds, “by upgrading the quality of the speakers, boosting the audio levels and increasing the size of the sound library”, adding another touch sensor under Pleo’s chin (35 sensors now), and improving the look-and-feel of Pleo.

These include: pushing for the highest resolution and detail in the eyes, adding sculpted detail in many of the hard plastic parts as opposed to painted on detail and adding soft muscle-like tissue in places under the skin so Pleo feels as realistic as possible.

Pleo is now slated for a Summer 2007 release. No word on pre-order date. His cost will also probably increased to $300 (from $250).

Ugobe is sponsoring an essay contest, and will give away 10 Pleos to the chosen winners. The contest is open till March 3rd.

In order to enter you’ll need to write a 250 word essay on:

“How do you envision robotic life forms influencing or touching your life in the next five years?”

The winners will also receive a personal note from Caleb.
So get writing!

Lance Ulanoff from PC Magazine posted a short story about Pleo at CES2007. There’s also a short video of Pleo in action at the event. He writes:

“…this prototype was many levels beyond what we had seen before, The skin looked both more finished and realistic. In addition, Christopher said Ugobe had been tweaking the motors, giving Pleo a smoother and a greater range of motion. Even the skin sensors appeared improved.”

Here’s the video: