Product Description

Pleo is UGOBE's premier autonomous Life Form, a scientifically accurate dinosaur. Pleo looks, moves, sounds and behaves like a living creature. Fully aware and cognitive, he explores his environment and interacts with people, accessories and other UGOBE dinosaurs.

Equipped with senses for sight, sounds and touch, Pleo processes numerous stimuli before expressing himself. He feels joy, sorrow, anger and annoyance with realistic dinosaur sounds. And when he's tired, Pleo gets drowsy and sleeps -- sometimes even dreams.

Just like a real animal, his behavior cannot always be predicted. Pleo has internal motivations to eat, drink, rest, seek social interaction and more.

Pleo requires 4 NiMH batteries, included. Measures 16"L x 4"W x 8"H. Colors may vary.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #506 in Toys & Games
• Color: Green
• Brand: Ugobe
• Model: 21276
• Released on: 2007-06-01
• Dimensions: 8.00" h x 4.00" w x 15.00" l, 8.75 pounds

Features

• Sophisticated sensory system with nearly 40 devices enable sight, touch, and autonomous movement
• Robotic wonder explores and reacts to environment, interacts with you, and expresses emotion
• Life OS platform of tools, technologies and AI combine to create an expressive whole that forms a unique personality
• Includes a rechargeable NiMH battery and multiple built-in data ports, and is backed by a manufacturer's 90-day warranty
• Weighs 3.5 pounds, measures 6 x 7.5 x 20.7 inches (W x H x D), and is suited to everyone ages 8 and up

Amazon.com Product Description
With the Senario 22208 Pleo A Ugobe Life Form, you can expand your family with a pet from prehistoric times. The Pleo is a one-week-old dinosaur that will quickly grow to become one of the most fun and exciting members of your family. This amazing robotic marvel not only moves organically, explores its environment on its own, and interacts with you, but it also expresses emotions based on its life experiences.

This prehistoric pet interacts and behaves like a one-week-old dinosaur. View larger.

Infared transmitters allow Pleos to identify, and communicate with one another. View larger.

Developing A Unique Personality
The Senario Pleo begins life as a newly-hatched baby Camarasaurus, and from the moment he starts moving his individuality begins. Pleo doesn't simply do what he is told; he also develops his own unique personality, moods, and habits that are shaped by the time and experiences he shares with you. The Pleo can go from happy and curious to scared and surprised, and from playful and lively to sad and vexed, depending on a wealth of influences. From hatchling through infant, and all the way through his juvenile stages, Pleo will grow up and change in personality and understanding.

The Pleo displays an endless combination of gestures and vocalizations based on influences that are interpreted by Ugobe's Life OS platform of tools, technologies and AI (artificial intelligence). Users can find training tips and download enhancements to Pleo from www.pleoworld.com, but his programming merely sets his wheels in motion, leaving the true magic of his development up to you.

As Sensitive as a Baby
Pleo's sophisticated sensory system consists of nearly 40 devices that enable him to see, sense, touch and detect objects in order to move autonomously and explore his environment without requiring any remote control. This robotic dinosaur includes a color camera with a white-light sensor that allows him to detect bright light from dark, see colors, detect motion, track a moving object, and perceive objects in front of him. This unit also includes binaural microphones on the left and right that give him stereophonic hearing, allowing him to detect sound direction and loudness through both ears. An infrared receiver and transmitter allows Pleo to identify, communicate and interact with one another, while another infrared interruptor allows Pleo to detect when something is being placed in his mouth. Meanwhile eight touch sensors on his chin, shoulder, legs, back and head are triggered by touch and allow him to "feel." What's more, this dinosaur has a skin that is constructed of a custom-formulated, soft thermoplastic material that's painted with an incredibly realistic and lifelike coloration.

The Pleo Life Form also has over 100 custom-designed gears, and 14 motors for highly-articulated movement. Each motor has a force feedback sensor that makes them sensitive to forceful grabs at the dinosaur's legs, neck, tail and torso, causing him to shut down during trauma to avoid internal damage. Pleo will actually react to being hurt, perhaps exhibiting a limp, and can recover over time depending on the level of nurturing you exhibit. Ground sensors allow Pleo to know when a foot is on a solid surface or when he has been picked up, while tilt and shake sensors allow him to know if he has fallen or is being held upside down. The sensors will also wake him up after he has fallen "asleep." Both front and rear speakers even enable Pleo to communicate via cute honks and hoots, as well as other fun and natural sounds.

Pleo's mechanical, electronic, sensory, and AI systems help bring the robotic device to life. View larger.

Senario's Ugobe Pleo is powered by an internal, rechargeable NiMH battery that takes about four hours to charge and provides approximately an hour of active life. This power supply features a battery level indicator that causes Pleo to feel very tired and slow down, so you know precisely when he needs to be recharged. Pleo has two 32-bit microprocessors for central and image processing, and four 8-bit sub-processors for motor control. This robotic life form also has multiple built-in data ports, including a mini USB port for online downloads, an SD card slot for Pleo add-ons, and the infrared transceiver that allows Pleo-to-Pleo communications.

This Ugobe Pleo comes in a green color, weighs 3.5 pounds, and stands about 7.5 inches high and 21 inches long when on all fours. Pleo is rated E for Everyone and is designed for older children, teens and adults. (As Pleo is a highly sophisticated product which evolves into an inquisitive animal that requires attention and care, it is not considered suitable or intended for children under eight years of age.) The Senario Pleo is backed by a manufacturer's limited 90-day warranty, but user's should note that it is intended for use only in dry, indoor locations.

What's in the Box
Pleo A Ugobe Life Form in green, a companion's guide, a training leaf, a Pleo identity card, an NiMH replaceable rechargeable battery, and an AC charger

Customer Reviews

Sophisticated Fun!
Bought this for my 5-year old son for Christmas, even though Ugobe recommended for audiences 8 and older. It has been a great tool for teaching him how to be responsible with a pet (carry carefully, play gently, etc). It's all about the type of kid you have though - if your child is more of a ruffian, you may want to wait until he/she is closer to the recommended age, as it makes for an expensive replacement.

Our dinosaur continually shows off new tricks as his 'personality' develops. My guess is that we will get to a point in the future where we have seen all the tricks, but the programming seems fairly non-repetitive at the moment.

The dinosaur is interactive and curious, and with that comes a layer of reality. It's all a pretty sophisticated package. The entire family has had a lot of fun exploring and playing with Pleo. Hopefully Ugobe continues to release updates that truly allow our dinosaur to evolve so that the novelty does not wear off in the long term.

As for any concerns regarding battery life...the battery does last for 1-1.5 hours. However, we have never played with Pleo for that long, and we don't mind the recharge time. Our Pleo seems to recharge a little faster than the 3-4 hours quoted on the web site.

lifelike but fragile, customer service needs improvement still
Some info as a new owner, apparently Ugobe says they are moving the company to Idaho and for some reason that is why their servers are down per earlier reviewer comments. I emailed support and was copied on an email response to many people who had obviously asked about getting a software update for Pleo. Not sure how the two relate but anyway...

As for the product it's great (we got our for the $250 price which a lot closer to the value than $350)...although our kids love him. He had to sleep on a pillow in our son's bed every night since he got him. Although the noise from his motors is loud, it's easy to ignore b/c he is the most lifelike robotic toy I've seen. I will say getting an extra battery was the best decision we made b/c it takes 4 hours to charge one and it lasts only 45 minutes-2 hours depending on his activities during that time. If you allow him to sleep when not in direct use (by holding your hand on his back for a few seconds), he can go up to 2 hours it seems. For me the most impressive thing about him is that his behavior is based on a programmable operating system, Life OS, and as long as Ugobe keeps developing it and supporting it as they say they do his behavior will always be evolving which keeps him seemingly unique to most other toys like this out there.

The BAD is, like a kitten or puppy would be, he is fragile, unfortunately ours can not lift his head anymore as the top neck cable seems to have snapped inside so looks like he will have to go to Ugobe for repairs already (good news is he has a 3 month warranty and Ugobe seems willing to help after that expiration as well). As for the support turnaround, can't comment but based on reviews looks like the customer service needs some work to improve responsiveness...

Pleo, a machine that charms
I finally got a Pleo after noting the deep discounts available through Amazon.com. It truly is a wonderful machine/toy/artificial intelligence/electronic pet.

I have to note that I am not a fan of UGOBE, Pleo's parent company. They are apparently in the process of moving their office from California to Idaho. Their website is inoperable, and they are not available via phone. It is unclear whether the problems are stemming from an office move or an actual closure.

However, I'm not at all sad to have my Pleo. Even if UGOBE is going under. Product: good; Provider: At the moment, disappeared. I hope that they resurface in Idaho. I would like to register my Pleo/use downloads, etc.

I would highly recommend the Pleo itself, with the caveat that the status of the UGOBE company seems to be in doubt. There may not be any support for Pleo-related technical issues or problems.

In my case, I suspected that deep discounts meant that Pleo might disappear, and I wanted one while it was still available.