News and New Products

Pleo – A Life-like Robot in the Tradition of Furby

By Jessica Davis -- Electronic News, 2/15/2006

Taking the entertainment robot to the next level of sophistication, Ugobe has created a new creature designed to mirror animal movement, behavior and emotions, including maturing from a baby-like creature to an adult.
 
“Organic” is one of the words company CEO Bob Christopher uses to describe the startup’s first offspring, Pleo. The creature is modeled after a week-old dinosaur called a Camarsaurus. The multi-disciplinary team of artists, engineers, animators, robotics experts, biologists and even the co-inventor of a previous generation of robot pet called Furby, took it as a challenge to use motors to create life-like motion in this new device.
 
The multiple motors are controlled by seven off-the-shelf microprocessors in the creature. It also includes 38 touch, sound, light and tilt sensors. The combination of all these devices, along with a battery power source and software inspired by studies of animal behavior and emotion, creates a creature that mimics life.
 
The creature behaves differently, depending on its current state, such as the load on particular joints or how the battery voltage is changing. And, Pleo’s creators made “nurture” a big driver of the creature’s personality. Early interactions with the robot have an effect on its later personality, according to Ugobe CTO John Sosoka.
 
For example, a creature whose owner is a rowdy little boy is more likely to conclude that being picked up is an invitation to play.  But a robot whose owner is a quiet adult may be startled by that kind of sudden rough treatment, Sosoka said.
 
At the recent DEMO conference, Ugobe offered the first demonstration of the robot, which displayed emotions such as an eagerness to play and sadness through its body language.
 
The company said that Pleo’s behavior is made possible through Ugobe’s “Life Form Operating System,” which allows the creature to use simultaneous sensory inputs together with its behavioral platform “to act independently and express himself through motion and sound. Pleo can convey emotions, is aware of himself and his surroundings, and evolves behavior over time.”
 
Pleo features 14 servo joints with force feedback; fluid quadruped motion; ability to avoid obstacles and not walk off edges; and sound output, stereo sound sensors and music beat detection. The creature is also capable of autonomous interaction with its owner and environment including coughing, blinking its eyes, chomping, twitching, sighing, sneezing, sniffing, growling stomach, tail drift, and yawning.
 
It can also display distinct moods including anger, boredom, playfulness, hunting, cautiousness, cuddliness, disgust, disorientation, distress, fear, curiosity, joy, sorrow, surprise, fatigue, hunger and a desire for social interaction.
 
“We built behavioral and emotional software that is based on our understanding of how natural systems work,” said John Christopher, CEO of Ugobe. “We do all this work and then come back to solutions based on the way nature does things. The same thing happens to us in the software. We keep coming back to behavioral and emotional responses found in animal studies.”
 
Pleo won’t hit store shelves until Q3.  He’ll be there in time for Christmas at that magical consumer electronics price point of $199.