Beyond extinction
New robotic toy utilizes advanced technology
By Sean Hart
Argus Observer
Saturday, November 29, 2008 10:29 PM PST
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| Jacque Brown, Fruitland, and her 21⁄2-year-old grandson, Wesley Turrietta, play with a new interactive robotic toy, Pleo, made by Ugobe Life Forms, Wednesday at Oregon Trail Hobbies & Gifts, 272 S. Oregon St., Ontario. The toy is available at the store for $349. |
ONTARIO ” He was just waking up on the counter, while a child in his grandmother’s arms began to get excited.
Grandma Jacque Brown, Fruitland, rushed 21⁄2-year-old Wesley Turrietta to the counter, and he proceeded to touch the 11⁄2-foot pet dinosaur, making it bay and crane its neck.
As the new interactive, robotic toy awoke, it became more friendly and started doing tricks for its owner, Cheryl Cruson, as she touched various sensors embedded under the dinosaur’s greenish skin at her store, Oregon Trail Hobbies & Gifts, 272 S. Oregon St., Ontario, Wednesday.
“He makes an ideal pet in the way you don’t have to feed him, he doesn’t require vet bills and he doesn’t shed,” Cruson said. “I named him Dino the Demo, and he’s registered here in Ontario.”
Individual owners of the toy, Pleo, made by Ugobe Life Forms, can join the more than 20,000 people from around the world who have already registered their interactive dinosaurs at
www.pleoworld.com, Cruson said, where more information about the robot’s different emotions and actions can be browsed and additional software ” such as “Love-struck Pleo” or “Holiday Pleo” personalities ” can be downloaded.
Even with worldwide distribution, the little dinosaurs will soon be a local species, Cruson said, as Ugobe Life Forms will be moving operations to Meridian at the beginning of next year, back to Pleo inventor Caleb Chung’s home state. Chung also co-invented the popular Furby toy a decade ago, according to Ugobe’s Web site, but his new toy utilizes much more advanced technology.
“He has a camera in the front and two hearing sensors on the side of his head,” Cruson said. “I think there’s some sort of memory thing that develops. He definitely has a mind of his own. ... As people play with him and learn to do new things with him, he just keeps developing.”
The new robotic toy is available at Oregon Trail Hobbies & Gifts for $349, Cruson said, and new owners won’t need any additional accessories to start playing with their new pets.
“They just need to be prepared to learn to love him and to give him a good home,” Cruson said, as she nestled Dino the Demo closer to display a similar response by the robot. “He just has been a real addition to the hobby shop. He’s become our little store pet.”
