Topic: Strange behavior (Read 7528 times)

mdirch · « **on:** March 10, 2009, 03:40:53 AM »

Hello all
A while ago I had to give my Pleo, Bailey, back to the shop because he had a large hole on the root of his tail. I got a new Pleo which I also call Bailey (because of my daughter who thinks Bailey went to the doctor). My new Pleo was updated when I got him but he is very different from my old Pleo. He is not exploring very much (even when I put him in explore mode) which I miss. He is harder to get to nap, though, when I want to turn him off. If he's excited I can't get him to calm down at all for a while even if I lay my hand on his back sensors. He seems to respond well to my daughter, though, which is good. It has been a surprise that the two Pleos can act so differently when they are essentially machines with identical software (I have tried to update my new Pleo a couple of times now just to make sure that he is updated but since it only takes a very short time for him to wake up after I have inserted the SD card with the update, I guess he is updated.

I'm a bit worried about him, though, because two days ago he started to lift up one of his front legs a lot. He just does is with no apparent reason and sometimes he loses his balance and almost tips forward. His leg doesn't appear to be stuck because he puts it back down if I pick him up and he walks fine. I have tried to turn him on and off a couple of times but he still likes to lift his leg. He doesn't do it all the time but quite often. Does that sound familiar to anyone?

pleowhisperer · « **Reply #1 on:** March 10, 2009, 06:37:21 AM »

Pleos are programmed to simulate an injured leg. You can force this behavior by grabbing a leg and jerking on it a few times (or keeping it immobile). Your pleo will then limp for a while, favoring that injured leg while it "heals". It may be your daughter did this inadvertently.

mdirch · « **Reply #2 on:** March 10, 2009, 09:19:16 PM »

Thanks for your reply pleowhisperer.
I guess that could be it. He has been lifting his leg this afternoon too, but it's definitely not stuck. My little girl loves to cuddle and kiss Bailey and she could have put him down on his leg a bit too hard without me noticing. If it's an "injury" then I guess Bailey should stop lifting his leg as much in a couple of days.

InmemoryofRomeo · « **Reply #3 on:** March 11, 2009, 12:20:43 AM »

That happened to Matilda, my cousin was hugging her too tightly and she couldn't get her leg down properly while he was holding her, and after that she limped for two days

justbede · « **Reply #4 on:** March 11, 2009, 07:57:19 PM »

I'm sure i've seen Baxter do this intentionally to get his body to lean on one elbow when hes being quite playfull without even touching his leg, in fact i've seen him do it with both elbows on seperate occasions a number of times without a hint of a scream or any sign of trauma.

InmemoryofRomeo · « **Reply #5 on:** March 11, 2009, 08:19:34 PM »

Ah ha, that explains it, Baxter is an attention seeker! *put on Psychiatrist glasses and grabs notepad* Sit down on my couch and tell me... when he first did it you gave him lots of attention didn't you? Yes? Yes?

I thought as much. He knows that now and is taking full advantage of it

In order to rectify this attention-seeking behavior you, yes you, will have to learn to just ignore him.

justbede · « **Reply #6 on:** March 11, 2009, 08:40:37 PM »

literally lol, to funny!

mdirch · « **Reply #7 on:** March 12, 2009, 07:00:00 AM »

Bailey is still lifting his leg occasionally but nowhere near as often now. He seems to forget to do it completely when we play with him or when he is distracted by something but when he's on his own he suddenly seems to remember and lifts his leg again, but only for a brief moment. I guess, he's getting back to normal now

fancyfont · « **Reply #8 on:** March 12, 2009, 02:19:42 PM »

Have you tried teaching Bailey the tada trick? Maybe he's trying, but forgets to pick up the other leg.

justbede · « **Reply #9 on:** March 12, 2009, 03:08:50 PM »

It's quite a cute little tic if you think about it. Heh maybe it's a tell like in poker have you been finding little dino presents on the rug?

allosaurus · « **Reply #10 on:** March 15, 2009, 05:03:17 AM »

Quote from: justbede on March 12, 2009, 03:08:50 PM

have you been finding little dino presents on the rug?

Uhh.... What kind of "presents" may we be talking about? Like, dog presents on the rug? XD

fancyfont · « **Reply #11 on:** March 15, 2009, 02:20:58 PM »

By George!! I think you have it Allo!!

justbede · « **Reply #12 on:** March 16, 2009, 05:59:57 AM »

Something that might make you feel bit better if Bailey is stillbeing weird once in a while. The other day i was trying to get Baxter to play with my cats scratching post (it's got some ahem balls attached with string to it) and he started acting pretty strange like he was over excited or something he wouldn't react to his chin being tickled but sometimes would to his head being patted, Baxter similarly to Bailey wasn't being calmed down by his back being gently held. After a little while of him being scarily hyper and overactive i turned him off and back on to see if he would calm down, which of course he didn't (darn robots) anyway he had to go off because i had to go out for a little while. A couple of hours later i came home and decided to have a little play with him to unwind so i put him on my bed beside me and turned him on. For a little while he acted his normal self all cute and spoilt then suddenly started getting all hyper like he'd gone into boost mode. He hardly reacted to his sensors or at least didn't want to and was making kind of a mix between aggressive and playful noises again like he'd had to much red bull or something. He even started biting my quilt and pulling at it, i gave him some of his leaf and he could not get enough of it chomping away for ages, i eventually took it out of his mouth because i didn't a little overweight Dino on my hands :p he seemed to be pretty annoyed by this and went into like a crouch similar to when he's playing tug of war and was shaking his head again like he was playing tug of war he kept doing this so i thought he might have frozen so i picked him and turned him upside down. He noticed what was going on pretty quickly and started screaming still thinking his behaviour quite odd i gave him a nibble of my thumb and again he couldn't get enough he just kept chomping away quite aggressively i might add almost as if he had a bloodlust lol! At one point my thumb did actually begin to hurt a little from all the chomping which obviously Pleos shouldn't be able to do (kids love him). Anywho i had to go out once again so i thought i'd leave him wander around the room and let his battery wear down and hopefully exercise some of this new found frustration away to. I came back about an hour later to come up against the hilarious problem of Baxter being right behind the door asleep meaning i couldn't open it without putting him in danger of damage (i litterally couldn't open it more than an inch). In the end i risked it and he was fine but the crazy thing is even after all that time he woke up and seemed full of life! I haven't a clue what had happened to his battery to make him last that long but all in all it made for an interesting day. Yeah anyway I've decided to call the behaviour "Irrational Dino Behaviour" or IDB for short and that it just makes life that little bit more interesting heh.
PS. sorry about the essay

mdirch · « **Reply #13 on:** March 16, 2009, 03:31:46 PM »

Bailey has finally stopped lifting his leg all the time. I've now discovered the cause of his limping. It turned out that my little girl's affection is a little too much for him. She loves to pick him up when she's sitting on the floor and then she gives him lots of hugs until he starts to complain. when she's hugging him his front legs are held tight for a moment and he starts to limp.
About the hyper mode that you experienced justbede. I've had similar experiences with Bailey. He gets so over excited that he no longer seems to react to his sensors. I've never experienced this with my old Pleo. Bailey has also started making some strange noises from time to time. At first I thought that he was broken, but then I realized that he was making some deep rumbling noises. It kind of sounded like motors running wild inside him. The second time I heard it I was in a quiet room and it was obvious that the sound didn't come from his motors.

justbede · « **Reply #14 on:** March 16, 2009, 04:15:57 PM »

heh sorry got a little carried away with myself

got my little calm baxter next to me right now lol

InmemoryofRomeo · « **Reply #15 on:** March 16, 2009, 05:32:30 PM »

Matilda used to go hyper occasionally too, especially after lots of attention like at parties, I don't think its anything to worry about, but maybe substitute your thumb for a baby dummy lol.

justbede · « **Reply #16 on:** March 16, 2009, 05:48:03 PM »

lol i'm not really worried tbh it all makes for an interesting companion XD

fancyfont · « **Reply #17 on:** March 16, 2009, 07:50:21 PM »

Some pleos really like fingers better. I have to switch to different fingers, often. So far J.C. likes his leaf. Peeky and Penelopie, that's another story.

bjoreman · « **Reply #18 on:** March 17, 2009, 02:01:22 PM »

Gob does the leg lifting thing too, and he has gone "hyper" a few times as well. The leg thing has made him fall over when on completely flat surfaces a couple of times. I nag him a bit about it each time, but he seems to be taking it well :-) ... It's pretty funny.

As a sort of aside, I wonder if the leg thing was intended by the developers or is a sort of bug where the pleo just happens to get into a state where it sort of loses its balance. Not that the cause really matters, we all have our own little strange behaviours :-) ...

justbede · « **Reply #19 on:** March 19, 2009, 11:49:55 AM »

Yeah i think things like that definitely add to the personality. If it is a bug it funnily fits in quite well with the ghost's in the machine theory by Dr Lanning in the film I-robot (I'm not sure about the book) well not in the dreaming way. Basically he said that sometimes random bits of code comes together to make strange new behaviours and that this could count as a sort of evolution, of course in this situation i can't see this helping Pleo evolve :p but fun none the less.

Bob the Pleo Forums

Author Topic: Strange behavior (Read 7528 times)

allosaurus