Pleo narrowly escapes extinction

Dear Pleo, we were devastated when news of your extinction made headlines a while ago. Now, we're heartened to hear that you'll be back. Jetta Company, the firm that manufactured you for the now defunct Ugobe, has apparently acquired the assets of Ugobe which was facing bankruptcy. The good news is your comeback will be accompanied by an accessories lineup including batteries and charging components. Now, all that's needed to complete the happy picture are baby dinobot Pleos.

Via Robots Rule

Pleo faces extinction, fate unknown in Asia

We may not be sure if meteors killed off the dinosaurs, but it sure seems like the lack of money did this particular one in. At least, that's apparently what Ugobe, maker of animatronic dino robot Pleo, is facing right now. The privately held company based in Eagle, Idaho, has recently filed for bankruptcy and dismissed its workers, according to news site Idaho Statesman. We couldn't reach Ugobe for comments, although the firm's online portal for Southeast Asia is still up and running at the time of writing. We'll update this space as we get more details, but meanwhile, rest in peace, Pleo, we miss you already.

Via Engadget

Can you love an animatronic dinosaur?

There are lots of things we get first in Asia, but there are just as many things we don't. Pleo--the new animatronic dinosaur robot from Ugobe--is one fine example. We were told that this artificial but utterly charming lifeform is currently out of stock in the US. So imagine our surprise when a local Pleo enthusiast agreed to loan us one for a product review, when all we (okay, I) wanted was to play with it until the editors started screaming to get on with the review.

So what is Pleo anyway? First of all, it's a newborn Camarasaurus (cue to look up Wikipedia if you haven't paid attention in history class) that has a mind and a life of its own. It takes between 3 and 4 hours for the battery to be fully charged and Pleo will live for about 2.5 hours before it needs to be plugged in again. Our Pleo was a US set, so we had to use a step-down transformer with the battery cradle here in Asia. Otherwise, dear Pleo would truly face electronic extinction.
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