Pleo: Ugobe's First Life Form

Ugobe's team shows the birth of their first life form - a dinosaur desgined to be a toy, but a toy that is almost as real as a pet dog or cat.

They develop and market revolutionary robotic technology that transforms inanimate objects into lifelike creatures exhibiting stunning, organic movement and dynamic behaviors.

They bring an adorable dinosaur creature on stage which they call Pleo and start talking to him as if he were a pet dog.

Pleo incorporates all the basic traits of autonomous life and is specifically engineered and enhanced to mimic life and relate to his owner on a personal level. He is equipped with senses for sight, sound, and touch. Pleo learns as he starts to explore his environment and will exhibit genuine reactions to sensory stimuli.

Pleo is capable of expression, meaning he can feel joy and sorrow, anger and annoyance. Here he is biting his finger. Shortly thereafter, Pleo became drowsy and fell to sleep on stage.

"This is the birthday of our first life form," he says to the audience, so he asks us to sing Happy Birthday to Pleo. Cute idea and we all do. Chris Shipley walks out onto the DEMO stage and says - "do you realize that you just sang a song to an inanimate object?" Clearly, but Pleo feels real to those of us who have just watched his performance, his behavior and reaction to human interaction.

Tag: DEMO Tag: DEMO 2006