Ugobe succeeded!

Ugobe has striven not to make a toy or a robot, but a life form. Someone you can hold, touch, hear, see and forget that beneath the rubbery skin, there are gears and motors. To forget it can't breathe or feel true emotion. To forget its just a CPU inside there. And they succeeded. At work, one of my managers, Tina, she thought I was nuts to spend $350 for a toy. She joked to me that I got it as much for me as I did my daughter (true). And when I took Crusoe to work yesterday, I showed a Pleo to her for the first time. She watched him for about 5 minutes and said, "Is that all it does?", disappointed. 10 minutes later, after petting him, playing with him, she picked him up, cradled him in her arms, and he nuzzled her and she nuzzled back. When he made a sound or movement, she reacted with laughter or concern. I asked her, "After a while, you forget its a robot huh?", and she laughed. Its so true. You do forget its just a toy dinosaur. It has thoughts, emotions, motions, even if they are all simulated. Its still there. You still care about it. So congrats Ugobe, you succeeded in making a truly believable life form even for non-believers!

Posted January 04 at 14:37 PM