Pleo

I am currently developing software for the Pleo robotic dinosaur. Released in 2007 by startup company Ugobe (co-founded by Furby creator Caleb Chung), Pleo is now manufactured by Innovo Labs in China.

The original Ugobe Pleos are better suited to software development as they have easily accessible USB and SD card connections.

I’ll be using them to explore human/robot interaction and the creation of subsumption-based robotic behavior

The Pleo looks like a child’s toy, but under that cute exterior is a host of technology including

  • Four 8-bit motor control microprocessors driving 14 different gear motors
  • Two 32-bit CPUs, one for vision and another as the main processor
  • A low-resolution color video camera and stereo mirophones
  • Numerous capacitive “touch” sensors to encourage human interaction
  • An infra-red transmit/receive system that is used for digital communication and object detection

Check back here for updates as coding progresses

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