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Ugobe, Maker of Pleo, Files For Bankruptcy
AshboryBassPlayer writes "Ugobe has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy — i.e., not reorganization but liquidation. We first discussed the company's Pleo robotic dinosaur toy in 2006. According to the company, 100,000 Pleos were sold in 2008. CEO Caleb Chung is optimistic about the auction value of intellectual property that Ugobe holds. Pleo featured 14 servo joints, a camera, and an SD Card for storage. The final street prices were commonly between $275 and $350, much higher than an earlier hoped-for price point under $200."
I have never seen the words "Pleo" or "Ugobe" until today. I would suggest that nobody else has either - which makes Chapter 7 inevitable.
That, and even if I HAD heard of either, even their hoped-for $200 is way too much for a toy, I'm sorry.
It seems like every other day I see a newly released product introduced at a 20-30% premium above initially announced price. Soliciting interest by being optimistic about cost seems to be the norm, but I wonder if these projects would be more successful if they were honest about expected prices.
"And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the World"
1 John 4:14
It's the second time they're going extinct!
I'm not saying its not a cool idea, but really, all a kid wants is a dinosaur he can pick up, and then smash against other dinosaurs. Sometimes its possible to be too complex, and too expensive for parents.
The musings of just another geek and his junk.
Please destroy your Geek card now. You are not worthy.
... who knows? World Dominance perhaps?
They are (were) really neat, really stupidly expensive toys targeted at the wrong demographic. Of course they were going to fail.
If they would have listened to me and put lasers in them
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
No, I remember reading about the Pleo robotic dinosaur, last year, I think. There was one review where the reviewers tortured it, and a /. article.
"Anyone who [rips a CD] is probably engaging in copyright infringement." - David O. Carson
...would end in extinction.
IIRC, there were at least two demonstrations of it prior to it actually being sold. Both used the EXACT SAME scripted series of actions,and both were claimed to be unscripted reactions to the environment.
Simpalrix, makers of Ugnug, filed for Chapter 7.4R bankrupcy.
I wanted to pick one up in a month to hack, but now looks like I will need to go second-hand. With the number of motors I would prefer new - and this will probobably drive the price up. Same timing with the Sony ibo (sp?)...ugh.
"The product should ship by the end of January 2008 with a suggested retail price of 349,00 USD."
$34,900 is a bit much for a kids toy, dontcha think?
Yup.... cuz not hearing about some obscure toy that didn't even last two years makes you unworthy of being a geek.
See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
Pleo. I just hate links that look like they're about a particular subject that keep you going in a circle.
Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
What the world needs right now is another Heathkit Hero style DIY robot kit, not a $200 "one trick pony" toy.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
That was expected; it was predicted in Robotics Business Review last month. The price point was far too high.
WowWee's RoboReptile is almost as advanced, and has a price point around $90.
WowWee is a company to watch. They have a broad line of reasonably good robotic toys at modest price points. They even sell a fembot.
It's obvious that they never did any "kid testing" on their toy. If you give a kid a dinosour toy, he will do the obvious kid thing: Pick it up by the tail and repeatably bash it against his toy truck.
$275 is too much to spend on a hammer, unless it's for government use.
Who would win this election: Andrew Weiner vs Andrew Weiner's weiner.
Neat? They were only a step or two more advanced than those "talking dolls" like barney and tickle me elmo.
They most certainly weren't worth the price.
They might have been about as advanced as those robotic vacuum cleaners (except some of those robot vacuum cleaners can at least charge themselves).
My UID is 0, so why don't you destroy your geek card?
I'm not saying its not a cool idea, but really, all a kid wants is a dinosaur he can pick up, and then smash against other dinosaurs.
"Curse your sudden, but inevitable betrayal!"
That might be, but if so, it was a terrible business plan and as an earlier poster said, Chapter 7 was inevitable.
I actually do remember the release of the Pleo and saw a couple in stores. Everyone looked at it for about 10 seconds, saw the price tag and said "Ouch!", walking away quickly.
Especially in THIS economy, people can't justify hundreds of dollars spent on a gimmicky toy, which is what Pleo amounts to. I'm as big a geek as anybody, but I still look for products that actually do something cool I think I'll use. For example, I just saw a sale today on 1TB SATA drives for about $78 each. I could buy 3 for a RAID 5 array in a computer and still have spent less than a Pleo. I know I can do a lot with the drive space....
I totally agree with the person who said a full-fledged "Hero 1" type robot would be a better product. Make it versatile enough, and schools will pay the higher price to have one in a learning lab, etc.
That's a little harsh for a first-time offense.
I move that he must hand in his Geek card, but can apply for reinstatment at a later date provided that:
1. He has disassembled and reassembled a Cleo without referring to the documentation
2. He can recite the Wrath of Khan, the Princess Bride, and the Holy Grail from memory
3. He provides proof that he has lived in his mother's basement for at least 6 months prior to the date of the application.
Then we can vote on his reinstatement.
Seriously, though... What if he's a theoretical mathematics geek? Then he'd be like, 4 layers away from being required to know about this robot. Did you bother to think of that?!
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
I know this is Slashdot, but at least try to write a decent summary. I had to read the article just to be able to tell what the summary was trying to say.
"Her idea of wit is nothing more than an incisive observation humorously phrased and delivered with impeccable timing."
I tried the Femisapien's autonomous mode. It took my wallet, bought all kinds of batteries that it can't even use, then came home and told me that "we" need to buy a bigger house.
I took it back to the store and exchanged it for the Robosapien.
Rich And Stupid is not so bad as Working For Rich And Stupid.
Do you have any idea how many chicks I've lured back to my mom's basement with the line, "Hey baby, wanna see my Pleo?" I assure you, $200 is a small price to pay for a bad-ass chick magnet like this robotic dinosaur!
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
That's true. I was a bit harsh. He might be able to faultlessly recite the entire dialog of every single Star Trek show. Hell, he might even understand String Theory (or pretend to at any rate).
Maybe he should just fold and spindle his card for now. Mutilate it later when he claims to never have watched "Serenity".
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
No kidding. Pleo was amazing when it came out. I've got one and it is very cute and quite interesting to people. I'm glad they got to exist for a while. It's a pitty the economy killed them (not that it would have been easy otherwise).
I have my Pleo owner card in my wallet. #120000009280.
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
It's not perfect, but I live here and love it. I'm not part of the CVB, but I welcome any well-run business fed up with their home state to take a look at Boise. It's a great place to live.
"Nothing to see here. Move along."
I agree. No one who has sold 100000 toys for about $300 each is, has, or will ever go broke. Either they are lying, self-delusional (their sales department sleezos have invented sales to get undeserved commissions), or they have stolen the money and defrauded their investors, or they are completely incompetent in business. Or they have been paying fat and happy robotics engineers $120/hour for years to design toys that can move pieces of colored silicone into cute funny faces. Probably a combination of all of the above.
The idea that there would be an auction for intellectual property is absurd. Intellectual property is an oxymoron that only makes sense as a legal concept when it is kept as secret and as expensive as possible. No one would pay money at an auction for trade secrets that lose their financial value when the company that developed them goes bankrupt and their so-called intellectual property becomes non-secret during the process. If the company is based on so-called intellectual property that must remain trade secret to retain its value and the company goes bankrupt, then the company has no value and neither does its trade secrets.
These morons should have simply made their toys a little smaller, used smaller motors and die-chip-sized processors and sold their toys for $30. Then they wouldn't be bankrupt. Bankruptcy is what always happens when marketing majors get drunk with dim-witted venture capitalists. Smart engineers are always looking to put teams of these bozos together and then be standing in the right place when it starts raining money.
No, ours is 666. :)
>They were only a step or two more advanced than those >"talking dolls" like barney and tickle me elmo.
My friend, you are insane. They are/were light years beyond any of that. These guys had a full behavioral and learning model, not a cyclic set of preprogrammed responses to button pushing. To say nothing of a 'bump/turn left/bump/turn left path finding algorithm and a low battery, follow an infra red beacon' pattern.
Yes, it was a first generation implementation, but it is the first and ( so far ) best platform from which to build emergent behavioral complexity.
Example - it is entirely possible to have added a behavior for him to seek his 'nest' ( charger ) - when 'tired' ( low battery ). It fits easily and completely within the learning model - he just didn't last long enough or have the budget behind him to reach that far. More, since it would likely be coded as a basic drive, it can easily interact with the other basic drives and stimuli - ie, the lower the battery, the more it 'wants' to go to the charger.
Add to that a sandbox tool with access to drives, behaviors, moods and animations and you have not only a cool toy, but a great educational tool as well.
As for expensive, he was pricey for a toy, but try pricing the servos and chips that ran him and then tell me how over priced he was for the capability... and unless they changed policies, you could bypass the sandbox and completely replace the ugobe firmware on the microcontrollers, and replace it with your own.
In short, read a little more about him. He was a tremendous technical accomplishment, and a heck of a pet to boot.
Yeah, so why don't you let me destroy that geek card for you. Muhahahaha!
Do you have any idea how many chicks I've lured back to my mom's basement
My guess.... zero. ;-)
If the pet dispersed a local concentration of nucleus bonded electrons on the synthetic fiber stranded floor covering, would he learn to make his physical presence approach zero?
Every mans' island needs an ocean; choose your ocean carefully.
Probably about as many chicks as I've scored by telling them I have the first season of Battlestar Galactica on HD-DVD.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
Did I mention that it always wanted to talk about our Relationship?
Rich And Stupid is not so bad as Working For Rich And Stupid.
I'm still waiting for my Chumby, these things are going to rule....
There is a nice TED talk about Pleo. Unfortunately the thing comes with proprietary software and you can only customise it using motion profiles and sounds. I am not sure how much this has affected sales, but you can get much more hacker friendly robots from Robosavvy.com. I am still waiting for a walking robot with onboard ARM processor and Linux, actuators with hackable controllers, sensors (resolvers, accelerometer, maybe gyroscope, contact sensors). It doesn't even need to be able to pick up objects. There are several robots listed on Linuxdevices.com (even Pleo although I think Pleo OS is not based on Linux) but they are either not that powerful yet or they are somewhat expensive.
But it is certainly not easy to get your act together and do a proper design including mechanics, electronics, and software.
My guess.... zero
Well yes, that is correct. But that is just because a) I own my own house, and haven't lived in my mom's basement for over 30 years now, and b) my wife has voiced strong objections to my bringing other women home.
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Funny thing is that I attended a presentation on robots today, at which this was one of the ones they talked (a little) about. And now they're being canceled. Must be cosmic irony at work, because I'd really want one.
1) Create Robotic Dinosaur
2) Go extinct.
3) ???
4) Profit!
http://www.bistolas.net
Pleo Ugobe? Didn't he take over the Congo?
Revive the Constitution.
Are you sure it isn't a new Linux distro?
I truly miss Heathkit, The mir mention of it causes me melancholy and heartache.
IO-14, I built one during the summer beetween 9th and 10th grade.
I believe there are many in this community that are willing to spend $200 on a toy. If I were to purchase a new video card for ~$200 to play games on my computer, I would consider that a toy. All the current generation gaming consoles are also in that range or above. Some may not consider them toys, but I do.. and so does dictionary.com
A couple days ago these things were on Amazon for $89.
Looks like they decided to jack the price up because of all the publicity.
Any actual evidence that the pleo's AI is really as impressive as you imply? Is the pleo even able to build up a map of its surroundings? At least some robotic vacuum cleaners on the market do (they may not do a good job of it, but they appear to do that mapping ;) ).
Maintaining a model of a simple external world is a very basic level of "Intelligence". Predicting that simple world is the next level. Being able to model and predict other similar creatures (or even "self") shows a higher level of "Intelligence".
So far what it does looks like simple scripting. Maybe not even "Eliza level".
Pleo faces extinction.
I have never seen the words "Pleo" or "Ugobe"
Dude who made the Furbie was aiming for another hit, they ran an article in Wired a few years ago. He also happens to live in Boise, Idaho. Which along with ailing Micron and HP centers constitutes the majority of Idaho's tech industry, lol.
On the Oregon Cost born and raised, On the beach is where I spent most of my days