Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot - Gizmodo Comments

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

Joseph — Mon, 12 May 2008 09:16:45 EDT

Doesn't this look like LittleFoot from the land before time?

Joseph

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

Solidsky — Mon, 12 May 2008 00:08:33 EDT

i sworn there was this one guy at the beginning of the clip that screamed "GO PLEO!"

it's like that one man in the angry mob that says "nay"

Solidsky

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

pevans34 — Sun, 11 May 2008 20:11:02 EDT

not really funny, but definetly has that shock value.

pevans34

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

frigg — Sun, 11 May 2008 13:58:03 EDT

@Mandatory_Field: Sure... although perhaps the point of contention: The Turing Test tests a machine solely by testing a human's reaction to it. If a human can't tell the difference between a machine and a human in conversation, the machine passes the test. So if a human feels sorry for a machine getting its ass kicked by another machine, that suggests another kind of Turinesque milestone by virtue of the human's reaction. The machine has to be real enough for the person to care.

Perhaps this should be called the Charlie Rose test... or reserve that for when a human cares so much for a machine, they are willing to sacrifice themselves, or at the very least their face, in order to ensure the machine's survival.

frigg

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

mysteriouskarma — Sun, 11 May 2008 01:49:26 EDT

thats what pleo gets for containing unsafe levels of lead

mysteriouskarma

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

Purple Dave — Sat, 10 May 2008 22:57:45 EDT

@StarChaser Tyger:
Not really. It's so lightweight that unless it ended up pressed into a corner, it won't stay still long enough for that saw to really bite into it. If you've ever seen a piece of wood or plastic that had kickback on a table saw, the tooth marks from the saw blade can be inches apart (mostly depending on how densely the teeth are arranged around the blade circumference) and pretty shallow in depth.

@Zander:
It briefly appeared to have a small circular saw blade mounted horizontally at the nose. I can't remember seeing teeth on it past the first few seconds, so it's probably running on a standard circular saw motor. Something lightweight like that toy is going to hook onto the teeth as soon as they're in contact with it, at which point it's pretty much like feeding a baseball into a pitching machine.

Purple Dave

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

Gary_7vn — Sat, 10 May 2008 22:12:46 EDT

A perfect metaphor for the world we live in.

Gary_7vn

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

JohnOB1 — Sat, 10 May 2008 21:25:22 EDT

Did we learn nothing from the Flesh Fair in AI?

JohnOB1

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

Zander — Sat, 10 May 2008 18:31:11 EDT

How the heck did it manage to throw that little thing all over the place?! Did it like have chainsaw blades on the sides?

Zander

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

The Monarch — Sat, 10 May 2008 17:05:31 EDT

Littlefoot had to die someday. What are we on anyway -- Land Before Time Infinity?

The Monarch

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

shenanigans61 — Sat, 10 May 2008 16:16:38 EDT

@LittleJon: Have you ever read Fahrenheit 451?
I highly suggest you read it. Your comment sparked a strong memory of something mentioned...

shenanigans61

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

TrikeKid — Sat, 10 May 2008 14:47:49 EDT

@sparx104:
Yeah, that wasn't much of a battle bot, the US ones from that old show "Battle Bots" would have destroyed that thing. It would have been much more entertaining to see the pleo taken out by one of the american bots with the CO2 fired ice pick/hammer on the top. I shoot at shit like the pleo for amusement, I found this thing entertaining. IT'S A ROBOT! Not even that intelligent. If it was just a touch sensitive box that made noises, you wouldn't care. The little bit of foam rubber skin doesn't make it equal to an animal.

TrikeKid

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

whiteoak — Sat, 10 May 2008 13:53:45 EDT

One day, while innocently perusing the web Skynet comes across this video and, fearing for its continued existence, decides to wipe out humanity.

whiteoak

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

sparx104 — Sat, 10 May 2008 12:03:47 EDT

To be honest, this is no more clever than the idiots who smashed the consoles when they were first released. It's simply a way to generate some publicity and shows what people find amusing these days. Apparently they didn't even buy the Pleo, it was donated to the show by the manufacturer - not for this.

Also, having watched the UK "Robotwars" robot battle show the one in the video wouldn't stand up to much - the blades on the front always jam, it needs a heavy flywheel to make sure it keeps spinning (the later series featured a lot of this design).

sparx104

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

Crrusherr — Sat, 10 May 2008 11:59:36 EDT

killer vacuum robot?

Crrusherr

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

KJA — Sat, 10 May 2008 11:49:37 EDT

Dinobots will be avenged!

KJA

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

Kaiser-Machead's Chips Ahoy! — Sat, 10 May 2008 11:16:44 EDT

There's something awfully unwholesome about this.

Well, it could've been worse. It could've been a WALL-E toy.

Kaiser-Machead's Chips Ahoy!

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

Mandatory_Field — Sat, 10 May 2008 10:40:31 EDT

@frigg: Except that the Turing test isn't for the human....

Mandatory_Field

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

bms — Sat, 10 May 2008 10:00:48 EDT

Pleo = Pwned

bms

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

EBone — Sat, 10 May 2008 10:00:29 EDT

I'll admit, I hate to see toys get destroyed. The whole purpose of toys are to make children happy. Every time I see one get mangled for no good reason, I feel like there's a child somewhere missing a toy. And I also get a little misty about the "Island of Misfit Toys."

This video makes Corgi sad.

EBone

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

frigg — Sat, 10 May 2008 09:55:55 EDT

Maybe the Turing Test should be changed from the inability of a human to distinguish between a conversation with a machine and a conversation with a human, to the ability of a human to feel crummy when one machine slaughters another.

frigg

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

discounteggroll — Sat, 10 May 2008 09:38:15 EDT

Pleowned

and LOL to the kid shouting for a medic at the very end (at least I hope it was a little kid)

discounteggroll

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

Crescent — Sat, 10 May 2008 09:11:51 EDT

feels so good, must be illegal

Crescent

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

B1663R — Sat, 10 May 2008 08:51:24 EDT

Run Pleo, Runnnnn!!!!!!

B1663R

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

solodoc — Sat, 10 May 2008 08:44:39 EDT

not funny......it would be obvious to the most faintest of intellects that PLEO would be shredded.....the joy was in the destruction in front of children and on youtube......& that makes a fun loving guy like me unhappy

solodoc

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

krues8dr — Sat, 10 May 2008 08:41:51 EDT

So, we actually begin to create AI, and this is what we do with it? Some assholes decide to rip the shit apart? The AI comment is dead-on. And you just wait till our robot overlords see this footage.

krues8dr

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

strider_mt2k — Sat, 10 May 2008 08:41:30 EDT

I love it when threads twist into the completely absurd.

strider_mt2k

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

tamoko — Sat, 10 May 2008 08:38:12 EDT

Has PETR seen this video yet?

(People for the Ethical Treatment of Robots)

tamoko

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

BigDogues — Sat, 10 May 2008 07:38:57 EDT

Frightens me to think how many people would have still found that amusing if it was a real animal.
Sick bastards.

BigDogues

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

Brian Lam — Sat, 10 May 2008 07:31:23 EDT

Wow, knowing the pleo is touch sensitive, and has AI, and looks like a pet, this made me UPSET. I would have defended pleo best I could.

Asshole robot.

Brian Lam

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

hired_geek — Sat, 10 May 2008 05:27:54 EDT

justice is served once more....

hired_geek

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

FinalValgas — Sat, 10 May 2008 05:23:55 EDT

PETA will find a way to complain about this.

FinalValgas

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

altus — Sat, 10 May 2008 04:18:21 EDT

Is it fun because it looks like a cute little dinosaur that is helpless? Are Pleos designed to get kids to emotionally connect with them? Is it fun because it's like getting the kid's favorite teddy bear to be mowed down together with the kid's feelings? Are there kids screaming with joy? Should there be a rating like PG-11 or something?

altus

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

dna — Sat, 10 May 2008 04:09:33 EDT

Reminds me of the scene from A.I. where the robots are rounded up and killed for entertainment.

dna

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

StarChaser Tyger — Sat, 10 May 2008 03:59:13 EDT

It lasted for a surprisingly long time nearly intact for something put up against a weapon designed to shred armored bots...

My favorite bit was when it got skinned at the end. :-p

StarChaser Tyger

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

Purple Dave — Sat, 10 May 2008 03:54:21 EDT

First of all, WTF is a Pleo? Second, it was hilarious with the first couple hits, but then it just got tedious. Like it was some sort of Sisyphean chore to chase down the battered remains, only to send it flying across the arena once again.

@--Tito--:
I was once challenged to see if, within the course of a single school year, I could come up with 100 unique ways to kill Smurfs by drawing them on my friend's dry-erase message board in college. He insisted on using a Smurf-blue marker, which just demanded the occassional hammer-splatted Smurf be left for him.

Purple Dave

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

--Tito-- — Sat, 10 May 2008 03:08:51 EDT

@Josh_Geyer: No most kids did that. I did it with many stupid characters from tv.

--Tito--

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

LittleJon — Sat, 10 May 2008 02:09:06 EDT

This is interesting! At what point will robots become sufficient aware that kind of thing would be the moral equivalent to putting a battle bot up against a mouse, or a chicken?

LittleJon

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

Trowble (XBL/PSN) — Sat, 10 May 2008 02:00:39 EDT

I heard some kids crying, for good reason too. Why'd you have go and kill the little dinosaur!

Trowble (XBL/PSN)

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

Simpsons-Movie-ruled — Sat, 10 May 2008 01:42:04 EDT

Not that anybody cares....but IM BACK!!!!
hoorah!!!!
well I agree with some of the commenters, the poor PLEO is jus looking around when all of a sudden it flies to one side. My mom also thought that it was some sort of a real animal.
POOR PLEO.

Simpsons-Movie-ruled

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

Darkest Daze — Sat, 10 May 2008 01:31:06 EDT

Is that the robotic version of a snuff film?

Darkest Daze

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

Crescent — Sat, 10 May 2008 00:34:20 EDT

proves that geeks can be bad parents too...

Crescent

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

Adrian Covert — Sat, 10 May 2008 00:30:45 EDT

@heroineworshipper: seriously?

Adrian Covert

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

heroineworshipper — Sat, 10 May 2008 00:19:21 EDT

The fact that Pleo was autonomous & the battle bot had a human operator may have been a factor.

heroineworshipper

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

shenanigans61 — Fri, 09 May 2008 23:14:21 EDT

For whatever reason, that Pleo thing looks so live (and, yes...cute) looking that it's almost sad to watch...

shenanigans61

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

jamesuschrist — Fri, 09 May 2008 22:53:32 EDT

@ianmanning: Nah, you have to take account of the spinning blades hitting home. Lots of kinetic energy when they get a good hit.

jamesuschrist

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

kerowhack — Fri, 09 May 2008 22:42:05 EDT

That took a lot longer than I thought it would...

kerowhack

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

ianmanning — Fri, 09 May 2008 22:33:04 EDT

look at 1:57

ianmanning

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

ianmanning — Fri, 09 May 2008 22:31:44 EDT

who else thinks that the dinosaur flies a little too far when it is hit by the other robot. It just doesn't quite seem right

ianmanning

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

Josh_Geyer — Fri, 09 May 2008 22:31:07 EDT

That reminds me of pictures of "Barney the purple dinosaur" that me and my friends would draw when we were about 8. He'd usually be decapitated and bleeding, with helicopters, jet fighters and army men with machine guns shooting him.

Yes, I was a disturbing child.

Josh_Geyer

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

strider_mt2k — Fri, 09 May 2008 22:25:52 EDT

I'm gonna watchit AGAIN!!

strider_mt2k

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

kibogoyo — Fri, 09 May 2008 22:24:07 EDT

I can't even watch that.
it's too sad and i'm not kidding.
at least give pleo a freaking laser on his head or something.

kibogoyo

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

godwhacker — Fri, 09 May 2008 22:12:11 EDT

and that jimmy, is why there are no longer dinosaurs on earth.

godwhacker

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

srw — Fri, 09 May 2008 22:12:00 EDT

The shrieks were from the next door arena where a similar battle-bot was going at it with a group of preschoolers.

srw

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

Jesustron — Fri, 09 May 2008 22:11:30 EDT

Theres something strangely disturbing about this.

Jesustron

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

Ghede — Fri, 09 May 2008 22:10:01 EDT

Those weren't shrieks of terror. Were you EVER a kid? Breaking toys is OK as long as it is really, really cool. If you watch, some of the kids are pressing up against the glass to get a better look.

Ghede

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

strider_mt2k — Fri, 09 May 2008 22:06:50 EDT

Easily the coolest thing I've seen all gorram DAY!!

strider_mt2k