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[MannyNZ]

Hi,

I was wondering if there are some more animal like robots, which can be compared on the same level as Aibo and Pleo?

I mean, I've read about D-Rex, Crunsher, Gupi, and others listed here, but havent found any information if they are programmable or not.
The first impression though was, that they are not as interesting as Aibo and Pleo in terms of what they can do on their own and their
accessability for programmers.

So if anyone of you know of any more Animal-like robots in the same league as those two don't hesitate to write them down here

thx
Manny

[Crewella]

I'm by no means a tech expert, but the only one I found that was anywhere near as interesting was the i-Cybie dog.  A LOT cheaper, and to program it takes some hacking, but it was a neat design and the later models were able to self-charge on a walk-up station.  Some interesting things were done with them, too:

http://cyberdoll.free.fr/cyberdoll/index_e_trophees.html

[twoNZpleos]

I don't know that I'd put them in the same category as Pleo & Aibo, but Roboquads make good pets too   

[OzPleo]

I recently won an I-cybie with walk up charger on eBay. I'll let you know when it arrives

[Crewella]

I agree 2NZ, Pleo and Aibo are in a league of their own.  I guess the Genibo is the only real 'alternative', but I've had little experience of them.

[OzPleo]

A Genibo would be great, but at 5 times the price of a Pleo it's not going to happen. 

[Crewella]

Yay!  Glad to hear it, Ozpleo, do!  I'm still desperately seeking a Silverlit downloader to try and upgrade my original i-Cybie and to use the walk-up charger I got for him.

Nope - no Genibo likely here either! 

[OzPleo]

I've not had one before, but how autonomous is an i-cybie? I know it's not as smart as Pleo, but can you more or less leave it to it own devices?

[Crewella]

It's autonomous to a degree, but nowhere near as independent as a Pleo can be.  Mind you, neither is an Aibo.  I can leave the Pleos to potter about for ages, especially Iggy, but the Aibo gets sulky if you don't shake its paw when it offers it (or whatever) after a while.  The i-Cybie gets depressed if you don't interact with it after a short time as it doesn't even have a ball to distract it.  I still have a very soft spot for the i-Cybie, though. 

[OzPleo]

Yea I had an aibo once, it drove me nuts with it's constant need for attention lol. It's so called learning ability to me is very comparable to a PleoRB accept, as you say, a Pleo is far more independent.

I read somewhere that eventually an i-cybie will turn itself off if it's not interacted with after a very short time?  The one I won two days ago on eBay has a walk up charger so if that being the case wouldn't it make the walk up charger redundant? 

I already have a blue one (without walk up charger) but because the battery only lasts 5 minutes have never had the chance to play with it. I bought two new batteries from an English guy who makes them yesterday so I'm hoping my i-cybies will be worth it 

[Crewella]

I've got one of his batteries, and his charger - they're a LOT better than the originals. Hope you're pleased with them.

I think I've read that too, but I've actually never left the i-Cybie running unattended longer than about 10 minutes (got irritated by the neediness! ), and it did that alright, but it also depends on the room environment, I think.  A bright room with room to roam will keep them happier and going for longer, and my guess is background noise like a loud TV will count as 'input', for a while at least, and keep them going?  In my view, it's the voice recognition function that's the most fun with i-Cybies, and I like the fact that you can get them to run the 'show off' pre-programmed skits straight out of the box.

*Can you tell - the length of time it takes the RB to hatch is driving me nuts!* 

[OzPleo]

Thanks for that and yea it's driving me nuts as well 

[kat]

The hatching time seems to be different for all of them.  Kermit was slower to hatch than Kermy with 8 full cycles before she walked and Kermy only5 full cycles.  So a long time!   It does get a bit frustrating after a while.  Makes you want a second battery so you can just power through it.   I'm sure there must be some rb's out there that wont take as long but who knows.  I think Degers Beta took a while to hatch as well. 
Hope this helps.
Kat

[Dinolover]

Hi,

Mojo was walking in 3 cycles and today he's been roaring like an adult dino... he scared my dog Moses when he did it..LOL!

[bhobbes]

Oh man, I never heard of Genibo and now I kind of want one! But at that price, an African Grey parrot is coming home first.

[barrettgazzy]

Genibo looks quite limited at moment in terms of expression and what it can do i would compare the Genibo to be more in the category of the 210 Aibo,s and so for the price of Genibo right now , i think i will stick with my 210 and keep eye out for any future improvements on the Genibo .

i bought my son a new in box gold i-cybie for xmas it comes with the walk up charger and it works well ( has already self charged by himself ) . i also bought a new battery for the i-cybie from the guy selling them on ebay and works really well . Just want to add my son loves Dinosaurs also and loves our Pleo's and for Xmas i also got him Cruncher there is no programming for Cruncher it is just a really good fun toy for kids and even i find him entertaining . 

[Crewella]

Yay!  Glad you did manage to get a Cruncher in the end, Gaz! 

I do sort of agree about the Genibo - I'd like to see one operating, but up to now I can't see a reason to get one instead of a much cheaper rehomed Aibo either!

[barrettgazzy]

yeah my thoughts exactly !  Although i have never owned a ers7 yet but hope to 1 day  as these seem to be the most advanced compared to any thing else .

[scaledandtailed]

   I didn’t realise I-Cibies   where still around. 
  Remember a couple of us buying one for a friend who wanted something for company     but lived in a pet free zone. . 
That was a good 10 years ago now though    so I’m guessing it must be a very old simplistic model. It was blue and it had a few voice commands. 
 I couldn’t interact with it too well    though myself because a lot of the cues where too visual for me to work with. 
 Not sure about the Ibo but from what I’ve read about the Genibo I think this would also probably be the case. 
 All academic really though since I’ll proberbly  never be able to afford one. 

[OzPleo]

I was tempted to buy an aibo but I can't justify spending so much money on something that no longer has any tech support or replacement parts. The 210s are riddled with physical issues like droopy head syndrome which renders them useless and none of the aibo models have replacement batteries available. How awful it would be to spend hundreds of dollars (or in the case of the 7 model thousands of dollars) only to be stuck with a non working object. I guess at least with Genibo being a currently manufactured product that's not something to be concerned about.

[barrettgazzy]

i have never had any problems with my 210 and incase of the droopy head syndrome there is Aibo hospital still actively running in the uk so that would not be a problem for me   ,  + the 210 is the only robotic pet out there with so much software available for it currently at this time and you can also get them quite cheap on ebay now, and with the battery mine still runs for around 1 hour and half which does me just fine, and brand new batteries do pop up from time to time if incase i ever did need a new 1 which i wont for quite a while as i have a spare battery   + 210's look so much better in my opinion .

As with i-cybie being very old simplistic model ( they were for kids ) i am quite sure the sony Aibo were released before the i-cybie and yes  Aibo is over 10 years old now from the earlier models but they are still the most advanced robotic pet out there to this day .

[OzPleo]

The last model I-cybie was 2005.

Batteries for 210's are not actually new. They may not have been used, but would've been in storage since that model was last produced (which is quite a few years). It's a good thing the Aibo Hospital exists because the fact of the matter is unfortunately Sony released a very defective Aibo model onto the market which suffered from many debilitating mechanical issues and for the price, like I said, I'm not willing to risk hundreds of dollars on old, defective technology. The software available via eBay is still quite expensive these days. Thank goodness for other robots that don't depend on a memory card that no longer exists in order to be usuable.

[Crewella]

Agree with barrettgazzy.  Apart from anything else, both Gaz and I went for the 210 Supercore, which is far less likely to get the infamous droopy head syndrome as they had fixed that problem by the time most of the Supercores were made.  As for batteries, several Aibo owners are reporting success in getting their batteries repacked - some by Aibo specialists and some by local computer battery stores.  That means you can now get a pretty workable Aibo ERS-210 for less than a new Pleo rb, and it's likely to be worth something still after you've owned it for a couple of years.  Even if only for parts as other Aibo owners struggle to keep their pets going - because of the repacking even the duff batteries now have a value.  

[MannyNZ]

Hi folks,

first of all, thanks for the heap of replies

If I get it right, there is not really a comparable robot out there which plays in the same league as Pleo and Aibo.

Genibo and i-Cybie are same dog-like robots and therefore not as interesting for me, since there is already Aibo as a dog.

Another dionsaur would be interesting, though Cruncher and D-Rex aren't programmable as mentioned. Since im only interested
in the tech aspects of such a robots (e.g. whats able to do with that robot to suit one owns needs), they'r not an option as well.

Hmm difficult task, since i have quite some constraints it has to be a animal-like, not dog-like, programmable autonomous robot ^^

So as i said, thanks a lot, and maybe someone kowns of a robot im looking for *hope*.

btw: those hexbugs are really funny, though they are to simplistic for my needs, but as such, they are cool

greetings
Manny

[Crewella]

How about something like the Roboquad - or is that not animal-like enough?  The Wowee Robo- series must be about the next level down, as 2NZ said.