Ugobe
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Ugobe is a toy robotics company co-founded by Caleb Chung, creator of the Furby. The company is headquartered in Emeryville, California. Their first product is the Pleo, a robotic dinosaur.
[edit] Recent Controversy over Pleo
Ugobe claims that the Pleo responds to human interaction and has released two product demonstration videos. Close inspection of these videos has revealed that the motion of the toy is identical during both demonstrations, despite slightly differing stimuli.
[edit] Official Statement in Response to "Recent Controversy over Pleo"
The two videos that were featured on YouTube were commenting on demonstration videos made purely for the DEMO 2006 Conference in February. DEMO is a conference at which presenters have exactly six minutes to demonstrate their new products. The demonstration video is meant to give people a taste – in condensed form – of Pleo's range of behaviors and movements. The first video featured on YouTube – the one on the right – was aired at the conference. The other video – the one on the left – is simply a backup video. Ugobe says, "In response, and on behalf of UGOBE, I want to let you know that both of the videos in the YouTube post were made for DEMO 2006." The actual Pleo product that will come to market will, indeed, be able to autonomously interact with his environment and evolve over time (using true AI).
