I was walking through Emeryville today and discovered this baby dinosaur. The name on the tag is Hanibal, and this is a Pleo. That's a new toy made by Ugobe, and it turns out they're in Emeryville. This toy was moving gently around the circular stone bench like a lumbering dinosaur. A woman was eating lunch here and inviting passersby to pet the toy. It responded well when I petted it and tickled it under the chin. It made movements that communicated pleasure, and there was a nice sound from the toy, important feedback to the humanoids. Clearly it's a photogenic creature, with two true blue eyes.
Another view of a Pleo. There were two of the toys, this was named Ralphie. I told the lady Ralphie needed to be careful or it would shoot its eye out. And then there was silence, which meant the lady pretended I never said anything. Oops. She didn't know that was a reference to A Christmas Story, she didn't know I had made a reference to anything except dinosaur robots wielding handguns and shooting up the place. She never even saw the classic movie, I bet, a crying shame. Anyway, you can see Ralphie's ability to make subtle movements.
This dog was unsure how to proceed. It would move closer in, then pull back suddenly when Hanibal moved. I've seen dogs try to approach geese at Lake Merritt. At least Pleo doesn't snap at dogs and chase them into the lake.
I was impressed by the Pleo. Cuteness will get it far in the marketplace, but there's a fair amount of technology in every ounce of green here. It will be fun to see what the 2nd and 3rd generation can do. Someday, I'll see a Pleo chasing raccoons up trees just for kicks, and I'll say to somebody, "Remember when they didn't have night vision or wings?"