home robotics
I first met Pleo a year ago, in a hotel bar. She was a stitched-up Raggedy Ann, a toy robot with bad nails and rough skin. But she was smart and sweet. I fell in love.
Pleo was a prototype back then. Now Ugobe's first artificial "Life Form" is ready to settle down and join the family.
And based on the reception Pleo's received in my home, I believe she represents the future of robot companionship.
Pleo (about $350 at pleoworld.com) looks like a dinosaur and acts like dog. The robot is laden with sensors. She curls and coos when you pet her, howls when you lift her by the tail, sniffs objects, and comes when you call her. (Pleo also has two microphones for hearing, and an infrared- and camera-based vision system for navigation and object avoidance.)
Ugobe says that Pleo's "brains" (two 32-bit microprocessors) allow her to develop a personality. If you spend a lot of time stroking her, Pleo learns to stick around. If you tend to ignore her, she'll get in the habit of exploring your home on her own.
The emotional bond you form with the robot is largely a function of imagination. Pleo is capable of expressing emotion, not feeling it. And her groaning motors and servos are a constant reminder of its true nature.
Whether Pleo is a he or a she is up to you, by the way. Lifting Pleo's tail and finding nothing, my 4-year-old daughter, Maeve, named the robot Clementine.
Maeve last week covered Clementine with jewelry, and put the robot down for naps in a doll bed.
Pleo closes her eyes and snores when she naps.
Maeve's baby sister, Oona, "feeds" Clementine her rubber leaf and plays tug-of-war, until the robot's rechargeable battery says that it's time to quit.
Clementine also appears to enjoy sniffing at our Standard Poodle's rawhide bone while the dog is chewing it.
Pleo has a USB port, an SD card slot, and an IR transceiver for upgrading the robot's behaviors and capabilities. Ugobe this week will release a behavior mode for Pleo that you can transfer onto an SD card.
Ugobe plans to release a developer's kit at some point, for those who want to further explore the company's Life Form Operating System.
Hi-Fi
A component you'll want to show off to your friends
San Francisco-based Olive Media Products and the "fabu" industrial designer Karim Rashid have crafted the most gorgeous, and expensive, digital audio players you might actually consider buying.
The Opus N°5 Karim Rashid edition player is not one to stuff in the middle of your rack. Rashid has designed four skins for the top of the player, each with repeating graphical elements to represent binary notation.
My favorite is the black Spectra, which has a gradation of purple dots on its top surface. Another, the Fusion, is covered with color waveform-like patterns.
The Opus N°5 Karim Rashid edition (about $4,000 at www.olive.us) stores the contents of up to 2,200 CDs, and categorizes your music for easy playback on your home stereo system, and downloads to portable players. Olive says the system combines the "sweet sound of vinyl" with the convenience of digital music management.
You can also send your CD collection to Olive, which will rip up to 300 discs for free, when you buy one of its Opus players.
Gifts
Good looks, leather, and low prices for iPod accessories
If you are desperately seeking a gift for your iPod owner but are a bit light in the wallet, XtremeMac Accessories (xtrememac.com) has a new lineup of iPod sleeves, cases, and holsters for less than $30.
XtremeMac's Verona leather cases have removable TuffShield covers to protect iPod screens and click wheel covers.
One version, for the iPod nano 3G, comes with a carabineer clip. Others have belt clips and button-down folio covers.
One version of the Verona Holster (available for the iPod touch and classic) has a padded leather case with pink stitching and pink interior lining.
Another is all black, with a striped pattern pressed into one corner.
Innovative last week
SmartPill in use at Boston VA
Boston patients will soon be taking "smart pills" to help doctors evaluating their digestive problems. SmartPill Corp. recently announced that doctors in the VA Boston Healthcare System will use the SmartPill GI monitoring system to study GI motility disorders, which affect more than one-third of diabetics, according to SmartPill. Patients will gulp down SmartPill capsules in their doctor's offices, and exit with data receivers hooked to their belts. The SmartPill records pressure, pH and temperature levels from the gut.
© Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.
