Fast forward to today: we've just gotten word from Pleo-watchers Robots Rule that John Hammond Hong Kong's Jetta Company Limited has reeanimated the Pleo with DNA extracted from an insect suspended in amber acquired IP and manufacturing rights to the Pleo, and plans to resurrect the product. Who's Jetta Company Limited, and why are they interested in the Pleo? They're the company that used to manufacture the product for Ugobe, meaning that they've already got factories fitted and employees trained to make it—now, it's just a matter of resuming operations. The announcement:

Jetta Company Limited acquires Ugobe out of receivership

Hong Kong – Jetta Company Limited acquired the assets of Ugobe and will be re-launching "Pleo" in the near future. Established in 1977, Jetta has focused on manufacturing an extended range of toy, consumer electronics, juvenile, robotic and gift products and is one of the most recognized engineering and OEM companies within the toy industry. Headquartered in Hong Kong, Jetta currently operates five production campuses in Guangdong Province which combined has over 4.5 million square feet of production floor space. At the forefront of the fast-paced toy and robotics industries, Jetta continues to strive for "excellence" and is pleased to add "Ugobe" to its operations.

[Robots Rule]

The company has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy—the kind of bankruptcy that's most like a tremendous meteor—and fired all of its workers. This is sad news for Pleo fans and horrible news for the now-ex-employees, but one part of the report was surprising: Over 100,000 Pleos, which retail at $350, were sold in the last year alone.

Existing Pleos will be left to act out a sad, allegorical version of The Land Before Time, in which, having seen their mother (Ugobe) killed by a T-Rex (bankruptcy proceedings), they will, uhh, sit unused in a closet until their batteries start leaking. The later sequels were kind of weird, OK? [Idaho Statesman]

Pleo's endo skeleton has embedded motors in its legs, tail and neck that give it realistic movements. The bottoms of its feet have pressure sensors to detect when it's on the ground or in the air. It also has two mics that serve as ears, two speakers, light sensors in its nose and mouth, and touch sensors placed all over its body. It also has an SD card slot and a mini-USB port for future functionality upgrades. These motors, sensors and ports combine to make Pleo pleasantly interactive.

Out of the box, Pleo "evolves" through various stages of life. For the first 10 minutes it just sat there, curled up. I realized it was waiting for me to interact with it. As I pet it, it woke up and moved into the next stage of life—adolescence. It was a quick puberty: this phase took 30 to 45 minutes, during which Pleo started to make more noises, react to my petting, and even play tug of war by chomping on its toy leaf (included!). How I interacted with Pleo in this stage determined how its personality evolved in its final stage—pet it alot, and it will always look for you to pet it later on. Ignore it, and it will roam freely, less concerned with what you're doing. I opted to give it plenty of attention, and as a result it now always reacts favorably to my, uh, loving caresses.

The way Pleo reacts to touching is incredibly realistic, as it conforms its body depending where and how you touch it. Pleo also reacts to noise, and can hear you when you talk to it. It's ability to emote (well, to simulate emotion) is also hauntingly realistic. The combination of body, eye and mouth movement, along with the sounds it produces, makes you wonder if the Pleo really can feel things.

However, I have my gripes. Though Ugobe was ambitious in trying to make Pleo into a creature that learns, feels and has a personality, I expected more from the end result. While Pleo is great to play with on a tactile level, I question its ability to explore and learn.

Aside from that, my main complaint is that Pleo doesn't move well on most of the surfaces I placed him on. The bottoms of Pleo's feet are made with a plastic that lack grip, meaning Pleo slips and looks like it's walking in place. The surface it movedbest on was a low-pile, office-style, carpet. But even on that Pleo only moved a few feet at most.

I can't help but feel this lack of movement hinders the experience of allowing Pleo to roam around the living room, or learn tricks, such as the "come" command. After awhile, trying to get Pleo to do anything that didn't involve petting it felt laborious and unintuitive, similar to teaching a Furby how to speak.

The Pleo is also noisy. To get the effect of lifelike movement, it had to be jam-packed with motors that make a lot of noise. As a result, the C3PO-like noises are distracting, and serve as a constant reminder that Pleo is a ball of machinery.

That said, I had fun playing with Pleo. While its flaws make it hard to justify the price, I wouldn't call it cheap or ill-conceived. It's a bit too expensive to make a true splash in the consumer market, but it's a great start. An upgraded model will most certainly fix 1.0's limitations, but this is a solid first step for Ugobe, and like the Pleo itself, those first steps are often the hardest.

From the creator of the Furby comes a new robotic toy. Welcome Pleo: a "life form" that resembles a one-week old, long-neck sauropod that walks, listens, feels and most importantly, emotes. Made by Ugobe, it uses an advanced OS called LifeOS, with 40 sensors and a mobility system that lets it interact with people or the environment around it. And Ugobe CEO Bob Christopher mentions that though it is technically a dinosaur, it won't act like "a dinosaur, which you might expect to be like a grumpy old man. It's our own unique version of viewing the world around you and responding to you." Yeah, ummm... those weren't portabella mushroom caps you ate, Bob.

Look for Pleo around Christmas time for around $200.

Ugobe's New Life Form Hits Our Planet
[PCworld]