Customer Reviews

Pleo Dinosaur - A UGOBE Life Form

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

We've had our Pleo for four days now and we love him--when he's awake!

Pleo is a cunningly cute robotic toy that has a very "1.0" feel about it. For better and/or worse, you can tell that some envelopes are being pushed here. The baby dino can feel touches, knows when it is upside-down, and can "see" with a small camera in his snout. Supposedly it can hear but apparently not very well.

First the good news: Pleo behaves with a good degree of "intelligence". He will purr like a kitten and growl like a puppy; he responds to being petted or stroked under the chin. His reactions are a bit slow but generally appropriate. He won't walk off the edge of a table, although he *will* back off. He knows when something is in his mouth and will make feeding sounds or, if you jostle him, he will growl and play tug-of-war. His skill at tug-of-war is a highlight.

Also, if you decide to get a Pleo, be aware that the first few times you turn it on, it will be in a "newborn" state--sleepy and uncoordinated, wanting only to be petted. So some patience is required. It seems to take a few days for the robot to become fully active and more independant.

The bad: In current form, the battery life is frustratingly poor. Put simply, your Pleo will be an inanimate object 3/4 of the time. If your battery recharges correctly--mine overheats about half-way through--you will need to wait 3 or 4 hours to get an hour of activity from Pleo. (I knew this going in, but somehow the reality of it is worse than I expected.) Even when charged, our Pleo needs constant attention or he will quickly curl up for a nap! I understand that battery issues were responsible for the release date being pushed back by many months. A robot this aware and active obviously places great demands on the battery; it would be nice if two were included or at least available!

I debated on how many stars to give Pleo. In the end, I think it deserves 4 stars, even if only for potential. (As I typed this he walked to the desk leg and spent a minute exploring it with his camera, making sniffing noises. Then he nudged it with his snout and made a frustrated sound.) I hope that Ugobe will find a (much) better solution to the battery problem, and they have promised free software updates in the coming months.

After receiving two Pleos yesterday (Dec 18,2007) my two girls (8 and 10) love them. The "birthing" and "hatchling" stages were amazing. The Pleos respond to touch and sound and seem very life-like. The skin itself is nice to touch. Both were "born" within a second of each other yet they "behave" differently and truly seem to interact with all three of us.

The only drawback we've see so far is battery life, but even that is well worth the wait and charges.

Bought this as a Christmas present for my 10 yr old step son. Took about 4 hours to charge, and he runs for about an hour at a time. Does not come with two batteries (like I had previously read he would) - but no big deal. Personally, I'm not really all that impressed by the so called 'life stages' that Pleo goes through. To me, it seemed like it was nothing more than a whole lot of honking an hooting - some clumsy movements - some improved movements - and some more honking an hooting. My son has him playing with his training leaf quite frequently (in fact, it's pretty much all he really does now) - but Pleo doesn't seem to care if he's playing with his leaf, or anything else at that matter (like my son's finger... no, he doesn't bite hard enough to hurt.) In all honesty, it just seems very 'unaware' of it's surroundings, unless you're physically in contact with it. Cool concept, but I'm not completely sold. Being a true geek at heart, I was kind of hoping for more. I think if you're sincerely interested in purchasing one, you should wait for a deal, because I don't think it's worth it's current selling price. My son however is in love with his Pleo (whom he's named 'Icy'), and there's definitely value in that.

This dinosaur is so much more than a toy. She's my pet. I'm a fairly technically oriented adult female and a grandmother. This robot evolves from when you power on for the first time until some time in the future when it reaches the maturity of a very young child. After 2 months, "Baby" now saunters off to check out furniture legs and baseboards. She often stops to chatter. She loves being petted under her chin and show it by wagging her tail up and down. She falls asleep when I cradle her in my arms. My 2- and 5-year old granddaughters were mesmerized when we visited. For many days after we were gone, the younger asked about "Baby' with very fond curiosity. A word of caution- a 2-year old is too young to appreciate the sensitivity of this machine and will damage it if they are left alone together for too long. It's much like when you introduce a new puppy to the home. One feature I'm looking forward to is updates in the behavior software from Ugobe that will be downloadible to the Pleo life form. There is some online software that a hobbyist can use to program custom behaviors. The only 2 downsides are 1-hour battery life (recharge takes 3 hours) and the noisy motors. Neither should be a showstopper in purchasing this great little robot.

I got one before Christmas, for my daughter. After several months of spending time with him, I've found I wanted one too. I kept stealing hers to take it to work with me. My co-workers and boss loves it too.

Great thing about having more than one Pleo....they interact. You also get to see first hand how their personalities ARE different. They don't have preprogrammed personalities. They grow from experiences and learning.

Durability wise, I have had no major issues. We take Pleo where ever we go and that includes my work, shopping, and even the local theme parks and conventions. So he gets stuffed in a backpack a lot. His body has paint wear, that is something the company warned about on their website. His teeth and eyelids chipped. I used Testor's paint and he looks great again. Stuff like this is minor to me compared to the joy he brings.

Highly recommended only if the following issues are addressed below in order of importance:
1. improved support by at least 100%. No phone support, slow if you're lucky to receive a reply to your e-mail at all and when you start a chat, no one is there to chat
2. your child is only able to play with Pleo 2 hours in a 10 hour day as it takes 4 hours to charge the battery
3. no possibility to even buy a 2nd battery
4. skin is prone to tearing
5. Ugobe does not want to know about any of your problems if you raise it with them and you will NEVER get a response from the as in my case after I highlighted my problems/experiences to them
Other than that, it is a good toy for your child to interact with as my 4-year old son does.

I bought Pleo as a birthday gift for my 2 grandsons (ages 10 and 6). I brought the first one to the restaurant where we celebrated with a birthday dinner and presented Pleo to my 10 year-old (who knew what his gift was). He couldn't wait to unwrap Pleo and awaken him (I had charged the battery beforehand). I cannot begin to tell you how mesmerzied EVERYONE in the restaurant was by Pleo. People asked if they could hold him ... the bartender wanted to keep him (we couldn't believe how Pleo would not walk off the edge of the bar) ... and my grandson did not want to let him go. This took place last week, so I can't comment as to Pleo's durability at this point in time. I am giving the second Pleo to my younger grandson on Saturday (I cannot bear to make him wait until HIS birthday in 2 weeks ... so am giving him his gift early). He is so excited ... is counting the minutes. It totally amazes me how lifelike this little dinosaur is and how sweet and lovable. Not only as a toy, but also from an emotional standpoint ... all we can say is ... PLEO ROCKS! Well worth every single penny.

Ugobe, the company that owned the intellectual property rights for the Pleo robot dinosaur but recently went into Chapter 7 bankruptcy has been purchased by the manufacturing partner of Pleo, Jetta Company Limited. According to a RobotsRule report, the United States liaison for Jetta, Steve Ohler, says the company will re-release and improve Pleo and build accessories such as batteries and chargers. The bankruptcy sale took place on May 21st and there are no other details forthcoming from Jetta about when the Pleo will again be available on the market.

In a press release, Jetta said Pleo will be re-launched in the near future, and Ohler has confirmed all equipment and parts for the production are ready. Jetta has been around since 1977 and has extensive experience in the toy manufacturing and robotic business.

Yes, Pleo is not a live animal.
But for sure is he not an ordinary toy either - so the important thing is to have right expectations first. Pleo creates an illusion of life and does it remarkably well, considering the price. Many have complained about it being too high - but take a while and think about what this little masterpiece of engineering consists of! Even a PDA - which contains a fraction of the processing power inside Pleo, costs as much or even more, not speaking about the complex hardware, custom-developed Life OS etcetc.
Pleo is most enjoyable, if treated like a live-pet - then it's really relaxing and funny experience. The Life OS 1.1 was just released, improving his behaviour considerably and hopefully the upgrades don't end here.
To wrap it up - if you are a bit of "science-fiction-person", then this Ugobe Lifeform is an absolute must.

I bought our Pleo for xmas for my kids. My hope was that it would spark an interest in robotics and it was doing a great job until about a week after we bought it he went to sleep and never woke up. A million phone calls, several mailed parts, several purchases on my part to buy various testers or different card readers, and finally I got fed up and begged Pleo to let me mail him back where professionals could have a look at it and see what was wrong. It is June 5th as I write this, they called me last week to tell me he's fixed and they are mailing him back as soon as they get a new charger in stock (maybe all three that they sent me were bad). They honestly seem like they aren't a bad support crew, I feel like I probably fell through the cracks. I can't wait to get him back after months of not working so my kids can finally enjoy their xmas present. :) He seemed QUITE cool.