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[Skygryph]

Hello all! I'm putting aside my lurker ways to ask you all for your advice. ^_^

I bought an Ugobe last year, and I've had a great time with him. He's a cool piece of technology and a hit at parties.  Thing is, as much as I like him, he's never seemed like a pet to me...he's always clearly been a robot in my eyes. I know a lot of people love Ugobes for being so sweet and simple to take care of, and I think this may be the problem for me. He's too sweet--his reactions are very limited, predictable, and nearly always positive (unlike a real animal), and the lack of care makes it hard for me to see him as a pet. The RBs look like a good upgrade from the Ugobe. I've watched many videos (and lurked here!) and know the general differences when it comes to the extra care/feeding needs. Along with the differences in personality, the RB seems more along the lines of what I'm looking for. My question is how these changes all come together. Are RBs generally less predictable? Do they have greater mood variances? For instance, my cat sometimes wants nothing to do with me and will walk away in disgust if I try to pet him (typical cat  ). This is exactly what I want from a Pleo, as opposed to the permanently sweet and cuddly personality seen in Ugobes. Do RBs sometimes have spurts of attitude or negative moods like this? Do they generally come across more like a pet/real animal? I'm hoping the added features will make it easier to suspend my disbelief and get emotionally attached to the Pleo.

(As a side note, if anyone knows where I can best purchase an RB in the US right now, please let me know. Semsons no longer carries them, and the only other stores I have found are Pleoworld and Robotshop. Robotshop raised the price on their RBs at some point, and Pleoworld has high shipping costs, so I'm trying to find alternatives).

Sorry for the wall of text, and thank you all for your time!

[aibo7m3]

Hi! I remember talking to you quite a bit last year, it's good to see you back! I know most Pleo owners don't have a problem with the Ugobe's autonomy, but I do have to agree with you a bit. Ugobes are very sweet and kind and the kids I volunteer with all seem to like them just as much as the RBs, but I don't really connect to them as I would to an RB. RBs can get pretty moody and while they'll always be happy to cuddle or receive pets, they can definitely get upset or distressed if it's too cold, they haven't been fed recently enough, they've been fed too much, it's too dark, it's too hot, etc. So they do seem a bit more real in that sense (they have a fluctuating mood level that determines how happy they are at a given moment). Also be aware that each RB has its own personality, so you could end up a few fairly different results depending on what trait levels you end up with. I would say they are less predictable than Ugobes, but do still keep in mind that they are still robots and you can't expect too much from them.

On the topic of whether or not RBs seem more like a real animal, there's some debate on that. I would say AI-wise, they are definitely more like real animals and the long baby stages add to this suspension of disbelief, but there are some flaws that disrupt the illusion of life that you wouldn't encounter with a Ugobe (freezing up, jamming, cutting short sounds when petted, restarting, etc). I could Skype with one of my RBs this weekend if you would like to see how they act in real time.

I would say that Robotshop and Pleo World are your two main options right now. Unfortunately all the cheaper distributors are no longer around. If you're alright with a secondhand RB, you should keep a look out on eBay, but be aware that there's no way to reset an RB to a baby.

[Skygryph]

Hi Aibo! Good to see you again, too--I've been kind of cut off from everyone since I left Flight Rising. ^^;

The "mood level" you described sounds  exactly like what I'm looking for. Even if they are always open to petting, just knowing there are different factors that could make them grumpy is enough. Growing up, my mom would always say I only liked something if it had an attitude problem.  I used to laugh, but I think she was right. Fickleness or moodiness will probably make it easier for me to connect to the RB. As for personality, out of curiosity, how much of a difference can you see between RBs? The different personalities really intrigue me, but I'm not sure how much it affects them. Is the difference subtle or more obvious? Not a huge deal either way, since I would probably only have one RB for a good while anyway--just more curious than anything.

(And you're right, I need to keep my expectations in check. I think my hopes were too high for the Ugobe, after wanting one for nearly a decade and getting myself hyped up. I'm still very impressed with my Ugobe in other ways, though, so it all worked out in the end.  He still gets lots of play time and attention.  ).

...I completely forgot about all the RB glitches. I read about them a while back, but it slipped my mind (selective memory...). Just read Deger's post on the suddenly bricked RB, so that scares me a little. The thought of throwing 500 bucks down the drain is a little too much for me to handle. Maybe I should just be happy with my Ugobe after all. Any idea how common these fatal glitches are? I know all electronics have a risk of failure, but if it's a higher percentage for the RB, I may want to let it be after all.

Skyping would be awesome, if you wouldn't mind! I've been spending the weekend at my boyfriend's place lately, so I may not be available, but let me double-check and see.

[aibo7m3]

Haven't been on Flight Rising much at all for the past year either, so I can understand.

RBs are very moody to be sure. I'm one of the members who likes this feature for the most part (it can be annoying when I'm trying to do a demonstration for a camp and the Pleo I brought just wants to sit there and mope though). There are some people who don't like this or worry that they are doing something wrong in raising their Pleo, but usually it's just the case that some little variable isn't quite to the RB's favor, causing it to be a bit fussy. I would say that the personalities aren't that different from each other. Each RB has their own list of personaliry stats that you can view though Stats RB or Probe RB, but it's usually just a matter of some Pleos being more active, being more eager to listen to voice commands, etc. I wouldn't say the main personalities are all that different from each other over all. As a note though, you can change your RB's gender with an update (though this isn't recommended since update can cause things to go wrong), but the personality is set and can't be changed.

Little glitches are very common (freezing, temporary jamming, resetting) and happen in basically all RBs, though the degree of frequency can vary. Permanently jammed legs (where a wire disconnects from the potentiometer at the knee or hip) are more common than they should be (out of the five Pleos I've owned at some point, two have had this issue), but are easily fixable if you have a soldering iron and seem to occur more often while the Pleo is still under warranty and can be returned. I'm also happy to complete this repair for established forum members who can't do it themselves when the Pleo is out of warranty.

Fatal errors are not common, but do occur. None of the Pleos I've owned have had this happen (I do have a bricked one that I purchased as bricked), but I've heard of it occurring maybe 5 or so times in the past year. This problem is sometimes fixable with a series of upgrades and system resets, sometimes requires an SD card to be kept in the Pleo at all times for it to function, sometimes requires a simple  repair (soldering a wire in place), and in the worst cases is caused by an issue that cannot be identified or fixed and renders the robot completely bricked. I have heard of fatal errors in Ugobes as well, but these seem less common. While the RBs do have more potential issues than Ugobes and can be a bit glitchy, I absolutely love them and think that the enjoyment factor outweighs potential problems.

I could Skype on late Friday afternoon or evening if that would be better for you. I'll be Skyping with someone else at some point on Saturday, but should still be able to find a bit of free time then. I do think it would be helpful to see some RBs demoed in real time and decide for yourself if you want one of these robots or not. It's alright if you are busy this weekend though!

P.S. Do you know what operating system your Ugobe is running? I know some people dislike the original 1.0 release since it is more simplistic than the later versions.

[Skygryph]

Frustrating as that would be, that sort of mopiness is perfect.  I like it when the variables have to be just right for something to work--it adds challenge. I'd probably reserve my Ugobe for the parties and public, though. Everyone seems to love him right away, and it's probably because of how sweet he is.

Honestly, I think I'm glad to hear the personalities aren't drastically different. I like the variety, but I wouldn't want to feel screwed over if I didn't get a personality I wanted, either. I'd probably just leave the gender as-is. Wouldn't want to mess around with it too much.

That makes me feel much better. Small glitches don't bother me, and I have a soldering iron, so that would just be a bit of a nuisance more than anything. It's the fatal "you now have a brick that costed 500 bucks, congratulations" glitches that worry me, so I'm glad to hear it's not all that common. I don't mind taking that risk as long as it isn't something that happens frequently.

Late afternoon tomorrow would be great, actually. But first, what's your time zone? I'm central time (figure I should ask first before we start getting confused with times!). EDIT: Forgot we can look up time zones on profiles. Looks like you're an hour ahead of me, so that should work perfectly fine.

He's running 1.1. I have thought about upgrading him to 2.0 instead, since I heard they wander around more. But I haven't wanted to deal with the terrible teen stage.  But honestly, when I think about it objectively, the Ugobe does a ton for what he is, which is why I find him so impressive. I think it really is just me liking something with more "bite" to it and higher care needs (moodiness or attitude or what not).

[aibo7m3]

I think you would probably like an RB, most of the complaints I hear about the model are due to its fussiness and if that's something that adds to the realism for you, I don't think it would be a problem. It's still clear that it's a robot and not a real animal and you can't expect everything of it that you would of a living animal, but it does have better AI than the Ugobe.

And yes, if you have a soldering iron, most of the common problems aren't much of an issue! And all distributors have warranties in case you get a lemon product that fails in the first few months.

Yes, I should be able to Skype any time around 4:30 pm EST (3:30 central) or later tomorrow.

I should also note that if you are planning on ordering an RB from Robotshop, you should order as soon as possible once you're sure you'd like one (though I'd probably wait until after we Skype to order one in case you decide they're not right for you then). They order their stock in very small batches and post no warnings when stock is low. They generally only have RBs in stock for 2-4 weeks at a time and restock every 2-4 months. They may have ordered a larger stock than normal for the Christmas season, but I have no way of knowing this since they never post the number they have available. I also have an RB that I'm considering selling, but he's an adult and I think you'd get a better experience with your first RB if you raised it from a newborn.

[Piggy]

I Think if you want a more realistic robot a RB would indeed would be better. I just have a very soft spot for Ugobes just because the are so easy to take care of and lovable  I hope a RB can give you what you are looking for .