Pleo, a personal companion (San Diego Transcript column)
We've grown up reading magazines such as Popular Science that predicted robots would cook us dinner, fetch our newspapers and vacuum our homes. But the future is here, and the advances in robotics in the consumer space have been disappointingly slow.
A few products have had some limited success, such as iRobot Corp.'s Roomba vacuum cleaner.
Its approach has been to discard the constraints of making a lifelike robot and develop an electromechanical product, designed to perform a single function. In fact, it's a robot in name only. It's really just a vacuum sweeper with wheels, a motor and a little bit of steering intelligence.
But now, Ugobe, a startup company in Emeryville, Calif., has taken a different approach that goes well beyond what others have done with robotics. In fact, the term robot may be misleading.
The company has been working to create "life forms," products that exhibit lifelike characteristics. They move smoothly with fluidic motion, much in the way that humans and animals move. They also respond to touch just as a live being might react.
Ugobe's goal is to have us develop an emotional bond with these life forms -- helping us see the products, not as interesting mechanical gadgets, but as companions and convincing us, even just occasionally, that they're almost alive.
The company's first life form is Pleo, a Camarasaurus dinosaur from the Jurassic period. He's 7 1/2 inches tall and weighs 3 1/2 pounds, which is the same as a one-week-old dino. With his tail extended, he measures 21 inches long.
Ugobe's engineers defined traits they wanted Pleo to exhibit, then expertly created the mechanisms, electronics and software needed. Pleo, which required the development of an entirely new operating system, is one of the most complex consumer products I've seen.
It took four years to develop and began shipping in December. In spite of the 1,000 parts, Pleo appears to be ruggedly constructed. The company says he's proven to be exceptionally reliable.
Pleo has two microprocessors, four controllers, 14 motors, 100 gears, a sensory network with for detecting touch, an infra-red and camera vision system, two microphones, surface detectors, gravity sensors, 14 force-feedback sensors, a tilt sensor, a mouth sensor, as well as a USB port, SD card slot, speakers and battery.
I've had Pleo on loan for almost two weeks and have been using him every day. I brought Pleo with me to a CommNexus event where I was on a panel discussing CES. He generated lots of interest; many attendees wanted to touch him, pick him up and pet him, just like a puppy. He brought out the kids in all of us.
When you turn him on for the first time, Pleo goes through a birthing process, mostly just waking up and exhibiting some basic motions. At the end of the 45-minute period, Pleo becomes more animated and shows more of his lifelike traits.
Pleo's actions respond appropriately to what you do to him, but with some randomness as a result of his ability to stitch together thousands of animations.
He's covered with a colorful realistic rubber skin that hangs loosely on a frame that's bears some resemblance to an actual skeleton. The legs, tail, head and body all move with lifelike motion in all directions.
When you pet Pleo, he emits a friendly sound, and when you put a plastic leaf or your finger into his mouth, he gently chews on it and makes crunching sounds.
The only thing that takes away from his lifelike behavior is the slight whirring sound of the motors.
Place Pleo on the floor or table and he'll stretch, walk a little bit,
move his head in the direction of a noise and, if not touched for a
while, stoop down into a resting position, eventually closing his eyes.
Pick him up or turn him upside down, and he'll snuggle his head on your arm, blinking his large, blue eyes. And when you put two Pleos near each other, they recognize one another and snuggle.
Pleo's repertoire of features is limited to these basic movements and reactions, enough to make him appear lifelike, but there's not rapid enough activity to please the less patient. Like Apple upgrades its iPhone, Ugobe will add new capabilities to Pleo on a regular basis through software. (The hardware already has the capabilities.) What's coming next? New, richer animations and additional sound files.
Pleo is not a toy and is recommended for ages 8 and older. My 3-year-old grandson, who likes dinosaur books, showed little interest. From my experience in showing Pleo around, he gets the best response from adults, but the response varies widely. Many have trouble giving him back, while some are indifferent. Several people I showed him to planned to buy one they liked him so much.
I'm having fun with Pleo and have been enjoying him a lot. He's entertaining, provides a pet-like experience and is my new companion until I need to return him. He's also relaxing and offers a great break from sitting in front of the computer. Pleo is a tremendous technical accomplishment; this is a product and company to keep an eye on.
Pleo costs $350, comes with a battery and a charging cradle. The battery provided about an hour of use. Ugobe's Web site is ugobe.com, and the Pleo community Web site is pleoworld.com. (Update: While I was sent two batteries for my evaluation, the company clarified that Pleo is snormaly upplied with a single battery.)
I bought my 7-1/2 year old grandson a Pleo for Christmas and he absolutely loves it. I can't count the number of times he said "thank you". He would take it everywhere if he could. The battery life is a problem, and our Pleo, from one of the early shipments, came with only one battery, which is a source of frustration. I am watching eagerly for the availability of extra batteries, but I see in the WSJ that they won't be available until June. Still, it's an impressive and easily lovable toy.
Posted by: Eleanor Musick | February 17, 2008 at 09:48 AM