Posted in Design, History, Live pets, Plush Pets, Robotic Pets on Jun 15th, 2008
A recent front page Wall Street Journal article, “When Dogs and Robots Collide, Somebody Needs a Talking To”. Wall Street Journal. 11 June 2008. Page A1 by Andrew LaVallee talks about the interactions of “real” dogs with robotic dogs, and with Roomba vacuums. In response to this article, we created a page, “Pets and Other […]
Posted in Design, Plush Pets, Robotic Pets on Nov 26th, 2007
Back on 21 June 2007 Ugobe launched PleoWorld.com to continue ramping up interest for their interactive dinosaur to be released late this year. Pleo is a realistic robotic dinosaur that will evolve through life stages and and develop a unique personality based on your interaction with him. He is modeled after a one week old […]
Posted in Design, Plush Pets, Robotic Pets on Nov 26th, 2007
Wowwee’s “Alive” series includes a Chimpanzee “So Real, He’s Unreal” per their website. The chimp is actually a bit of a talking head (the product is a model of a chimp from the top of the shoulders up.) It features realistic animal behavior, mood dependent behavior, and responds to stimuli with mood specific animations and […]
Posted in Design, Robotic Pets on Nov 26th, 2007
RoboPanda takes the traditional teddy bear look and turns it into a robot. It is intentionally designed to look robotic. Capacitive touch sensor technology combined with a sonic sensor allow his eight motors to operate without use of a remote. With RoboPanda’s realistic actions, an interactive personality, advanced artificial intelligence and awareness, Wowwee has made […]
Posted in Design, Robotic Pets on Nov 2nd, 2007
Bandai is preparing to launch Tachikoma (from Ghost in the Shell anime) in February 2008. The robot will be controlled a via a USB port per their 10 Oct 2007 press release (in Japanese). Ghost in the Shell is also known as “Mobile Armored Riot Police”. The anime strongly influenced the popular U.S. movie, The […]
Posted in Design, History, Robotic Pets on Jul 29th, 2007
Released back in early 2005, we include Choro Mode Pet here due to its unique method of control. A little cable connects the small robotic pet to the headphone jack of a Japanese mobile phone. The pet is then controlled by the “sounds” of you pressing the keys. For example: 1 to go left, 2 […]
Posted in Robotic Pets on Jul 25th, 2007
Business Design Laboratory, NEC System Technologies, and Futuba Industrial Company collaborated in development of Hello Kitty ROBO released November 1st, 2004 to celebrate the Sanrio character’s 30th birthday. It sits about 52 cm tall, has a moving head and arms, its eyes are video cameras that can recognize different human faces (up to ten different […]
Posted in Robotic Pets on Jul 21st, 2007
Bandai will shortly be releasing five little see through, walking virtual insects called Hex Bug. Bandai refers to them as Micro Robotic Creatures. Hex Bugs recognize when their feeler antennae hit something and turn away from the obstruction. Plus if you clap your hands, they will change direction. They name them by color. Charley is […]
Posted in Robotic Pets, Therapy Pets on Jul 13th, 2007
PARO is a Mental Commitment Robot. They are designed to interact with humans and encourage formation of emotional bonds between human and virtual pet. Their purpose is to provide psychological effects (like relaxation and motivation), physiological effects (like improvements in the human’s vital signs), and social effects (like encouraging communication between patients and caregivers in […]
Posted in Business, Plush Pets, Robotic Pets on Jul 10th, 2007
A 27 June 2007 Sega Toys press release announces realistic plush cat, owl and parrot editions to their robotic Dream Pet (Yume-Petto) lineup. These are very high quality plush pets and present their owners with life like experiences. Other current or recent Sega Dream Pets include: Yume-Neko, Smile the Robotic Cat as shown in a […]
