Its life Jim but not as we know it!
As a child I was always fascinated by all things robotic, much of this fascination was generated by the TV shows of the time, such as Star Trek and re-runs of Lost in Space. I was a sensible kid, I fully realised this fantastic mechanical devices that were walking and talking, displaying true sentience, were far beyond our technology at the time. I did think that we might see something very similar emerge in the future, definitely within my lifetime. So thirty years on from my young TV watching days, where are the robots?
You would think that after 30 years of incredible technological advances that here would be some recognisable for of commercial robotics? Certainly something that was a close match to my boyhood daydreams, but no, we are stuck with ridiculously expensive children’s toys as the pinnacle of robotic science.
Let’s take a look at one of these advanced robotic life forms shall we? Queue drum roll….. It’s Pleo the Robotic Camerasaurs! Can this really be the most advanced form of publically available robot known to mankind? Let’s take a look!
Pleo retails for around $299, making him a rather expensive electronic toy. He contains (hold a second, why am I calling it a he?) a range of sensory devices that enable him to hear, see, sense touch and detect objects. Anybody who remembers Furbies (those cute if somewhat annoying electronic pets) will be familiar with the whole concept of Pleo, he is just a rather more advanced version of the same thing. The manufacturers state that no two of the toys will develop the same habits, and his entire development is based upon the time the owner spends with him. Due to the fact he can only operate (be awake?) for an hour on a full battery charge and then needs four hours to recharge the owner isn’t really going to be spending much time with him.
The core of Pleo’s brain is Life OS; an impressively named piece of software that it would seem is designed to make something wag its tale when you feed it something it cannot eat anyway. I’m in the wrong business! This software has recently been updated to Life OS 1.1, brain surgery for your robotic pet!
Pleo can react to his surroundings and will display character traits such as sadness, happiness and excitement in a variety of ways, he will also let his owner know when he is tired or hungry. Many of his responses are geared towards affectionate actions such as petting and play.
As you can probably guess, I am not exactly impressed with this particular gadget. Quite frankly it is nothing new, ok the technology is more up to date than previous attempts at the same thing, but there is certainly nothing innovative about Pleo, and unless you are the kind of person who can afford to blow $299 on a toy that is likely to be forgotten within a week I can’t see the value of him.