FIRST-HATCH PLEO

Christmas came a bit early today!

Way back in January, carytown sent me a video of a prototype robotic baby dinosaur called Pleo that was soon to be on the market, since he knew I loved all things gadget-and-robot-related, and knew I was already the proud owner of an Aibo (who perhaps needed a playmate).

I joined the mailing list at pleoworld.com, and started following their online updates about little Pleo's development. He was created by Caleb Chung, inventor of the (infernal) Furby -- but judging by the demo videos, Pleo looked far more advanced (and far less annoying) than his furry toy predecessor.

Pre-orders started in June, and the first 2000 dinos sold were "First-Hatch" models (which come with a special gold identity card and arrive nearly two weeks ahead of other orders). Lo and behold, the "First-Hatch" dinos went quickly (within hours), and by July they had completely sold out their entire stock on pre-orders alone, leaving very few to ship to stores for the holidays.

However, I did order a "First-Hatch" back in June, and it just showed up today. :)

Click on the pic to see his formal unboxing. The battery takes about four hours to charge, so I probably won't "wake him" until tomorrow morning, and will post a video of baby's first steps for everyone to see.