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[grumpy]

One of our admins, degers, had the opportunity to chat with Derek Dotson, CEO of Innvo Labs about the new Pleo reborn (Pleo RB).  Derek was excited to tell us all about the new Pleo RB andchanges and effort that went into taking out cute little dino pal and taking a giant step into turning it into a true robotic pet.

So, if you've got a half hour,  Derek wants us to share the whole call with everyone!    All the details!      Everything you ever wanted to know about Pleo RB!  . . .  But for those who would rather not listen, I have transcribed most of the call in the two following posts.  But trust me.  The text doesn't do justice to the excitement and thrill about hearing it all direct from the man who has been with Pleo from the very beginning.

This should be replaced by the audio player

[grumpy]

degers: So, Derek, thank you for taking the time out to talk to the Bob the Pleo community about Pleo RB.  Would you be able to talk to us about the new features Pleo RB is going to have over the Pleos that have been released already?

Derek Dotson: Absolutely!  In fact, it's one of my favorite subjects, actually.  First, I'd like to thank you and the people from the site.  The feedback you've given us on PM2, and I'm hoping the feedback you'll give us in Pleo RB, we do take those things into consideration and your suggestions are brought up in our meetings.  If it doesn't seem like we jump right on it, it's just a manpower issue.  There's a lot going on.  Your comments are really, really appreciated.

So, let's jump into Pleo RB!  Pleo RB is a major re-design.  Same frame.  Pleo RB looks pretty much like the old one.  We have changed the paint, where we drop down on the shoulders.  Our philosophy is this: we're going to change color on the production line and eye color, so two Pleos coming off the line at the same time will look different.  The color will be green, but we'll change the shades within the green color.  We dropped the color down the legs a little bit.  Our thought was this: if you've got several Pleos, a Pleo classic (Ugobe), a Pleo 2009 (Innvo), and a Pleo RB, by looking at these paint patterns, you can look at the Pleos and see that's a Pleo PB.  As for the eyes, there's like ten different eye colors, and hundreds of different shades, so I think that will be quite exciting!

One of the big features that comes out is each Pleo will be "seeded" essentially with a unique personality on the assembly line.  And what this means basically, is that some Pleos will learn faster, some will get happier faster, some will be a little more mopey.  It will be not only how you treat it will affect it's personality, but it is actually "born" with certain characteristics.  And we're very excited about that!  It's a lot of work, as you can well imagine, to keep up with that.

So, those are kind of the "big philosophy" things.  Now, some of the newest things, let's go through the physical things first.

One of the major, major improvements is we've gone to a lithium battery.  This extends our battery life up to about two hours.  I mean, you plug in a Pleo now and it goes and goes and goes and goes.  We've also improved the power savings.  So that when Pleo is not active, it really shuts down the system.  So, you could play with a Pleo one day for thirty minutes, leave it until the next day and play with it again, and it will go on and on and on.  We do listen, believe it or not.  You make suggestions and we take these things to heart.  "I love my Pleo, but I can't play with it long enough."  Our past solution was multiple batteries.  Now we've improved with a lithium battery.  It has a little more umph, if you will.... a little more amp hours, and we also have a larger battery span, as far as the voltage range, and that's what really extends the life of these little guys.

And you guys are gonna love this feature... on the bottom where the battery goes in, there's a small LED recessed there.  You put the battery in, turn the Pleo on, a little light will come on; green, red, or black.  If it's black it's asleep (you can wake it up with the button) or the battery is dead.  If it's red, it needs charging.  Or it's green.  So there's no more of that "Oh, my Pleo seems sluggish. (Is problem or just a low battery)."  Well, you can flip him over upside down, in this little recessed hole, there's this tiny LED glowing, any you can tell if it's the battery.

And looking at the bottom of the Pleo, it's completely different. 

degers:  On the battery, we have a number of members who have bought the LI-Poly battery from Ucube, and they cannot praise it enough.  I'm really excited to see how Pleo RB is going to be received with the new lithium battery.  I'm excited to try it!

Derek: It's a really good move.  It's expensive, mind you, but it is still a good move for us.

So, looking at the bottom of the unit as you see in the picture there, there's nothing exposed.  One of the benefits of this is a cleaner looking unit.  And two, it helps us with the skin.  As the legs moved back and forth (the skin) stretched.  And having the old big giant footprint on the bottom of that thing really put stress around those joints.

There is a switch that is hidden.  Press it once quickly and release it will wake up Pleo from it's battery saving mode.  To put Pleo to sleep hold that button for about two seconds, release it, and Pleo will go through a short napping routine and very, very quickly will go to sleep, saving battery power.

An additional thing you'll see on the bottom, on the back right foot, there's a battery holder.  Pleo now has a sense of time.  What this does is, Pleo goes through a day having certain needs.  Like in the afternoon he wants to be fed.  Late at night he'll get sluggish when it's time to sleep.  So, we debated on how to handle this setting the clock, if you will, and I think we've come up with a very elegant solution.  Next to the battery compartment on the foot is a tiny, tiny hole.  You put a paperclip in there at your local noon time and that will set it's internal clock.  So, let's say you work the swing shift, so you don't want local noon, you want kind of your noon.  You get off at midnight, your noon might be 4am, that's when you want your Pleo most active, essentially.  Go ahead and push that button and that will set up up to your noon.

Let's go ahead and talk about skin and paint.

degers: Please!  We've had sooo many questions about skin and paint.  Two of the things we want to know about is the common tearing around the arms of Pleo.  And, also a lot of people want to know if the paint has been improved and the longevity of the paint.

Derek: Absolutely!  You'll notice nobody else in the robotics industry puts skin on a unit.  The reason is, it's tough.  Fortunately, or unfortunately, we've pushed this technology as hard or harder than anyone.  I believe we're getting closer and closer to perfection.  We've changed the chemistry of the skin just a little bit.  But one of the big improvements you'll see with Pleo RB is the paint itself is extremely flexible.  If you take a Pleo RB and cut a joint and pull it, you stretch the skin.  If you do this to the older Pleos, the paint is a little stiffer than the skin.  They're not exactly the same.  We've matched up the flexibility of the skin with the flexibility of the paint.  So, now when you stretch it the paint doesn't crinkle or crack or anything like that.  It really follows the skin.  I believe with that improvement and the slight tweak in the chemistry, and this bottom having a little more flexibility because of the smaller footprint of the hole, I believe that is going to address a lot of those problems.

degers: That sounds fantastic!  Have you guys managed to solve the kind of armpit tearing?

Derek: That's part of the chemistry, and I believe this new footprint being smaller allows more flexibility in the armpit.  Look at the old Pleos, that bottom section, that plate essentially, was almost all the way to the armpit, so when it moved, there's always this tension, this stretching.  And with the new Pleo RB we have a lot more room, and we've actually increased the depth of the wrinkles.  We believe this is going to solve that.  Only time will tell, but our initial tests have been very, very positive.  We do life tests, and salt tests and UV tests.  All our tests say this is a better skin than we have ever had.

degers: That's fantastic.  One of the huge bug-a-bears of the Pleo is the skin.  When we were talking to John Sosoka, he said skin and batteries were the worst (problems areas).  I think that answers a big chunk of questions we've had in relation to our Pleo Reborn thread.

[grumpy]

degers: One of the huge questions that's coming up is has anything happened to (improve) vision and hearing?

Derek Dotson: Absolutely!  I have some exciting things to talk about in vision and hearing.

Let's talk about the hearing first.  Pleo now has voice recognition.  This has led to tons and tons of play patterns and interaction.  One of the complaints and one of the suggestions we received from your group is that after you've had a Pleo for a while, what's next, you know.  You can only interact a little bit.  I pet it and it responds.  I talk to it, it looks at me.  But it's sort of lacking.  In our quest to make Pleo the perfect companion pet, we've given it voice recognition.  Here's how it works in a nutshell:  You'll have an ID card that comes with Pleo.  This is like the owner's card, if you will.  There was one in the old box that didn't do very much.  It was nice.  Kind of a little collectible.   This (new) one has value.  DO NOT let that thing go.  Pleo has like a sense of smell also, which is basically RFID.  You put the ID card under it's chin, Pleo will go through an animation, look up at you, open it's mouth, and be still.  You put this card in it's mouth.  At this point, Pleo will lift it's head and be perfectly still.  Now, a couple of things: Pleo has to be a juvenile at this point.  He has to be well fed and happy and loved and in a good mood.  And you also need a quiet environment.  At this point, you give Pleo a name, and I mean any name.  I call it Pleo just for the videos and things, but you can call it Edward, or Donald, or just any name you come up with, in any language.  Doesn't matter.  You now give Pleo a name.  He will dip his head and raise it back up.  You give him the name a second time.  If he's happy, he'll drop the card and get all happy and wiggly.  From then on, only you, can call Pleo by his name and he'll recognize you.

degers: O.K.

Derek: This is a big deal.  To do this we had to make a number of improvements in the hearing, obviously, just so we could get that voice recognition thing to work.  But this play pattern evolved into a lot more.  So, you can now touch Pleo on the side of the face.  he has new touch sensors, by the way.  I'll go into those in a minute.  You get his attention.  He'll look up at you. (You say his name.)  If he recognizes his name he gets all excited.  If he doesn't, he goes "Huh?" like "Hey, you talking to me?"  But, the thing this leads into is we have these things called learning stones, and you can teach Pleo tricks utilizing these learning stones.  Same scenario.  You let him kind of sniff the stone.  He'll open his mouth, go down, and you'll give him a command.  The one that comes in the box is "bow".  Basically you give him the learning stone and you give him a command like "Bow to me."  Something along those lines.  Any three word command.  By the way, multiple words are better than less words.  But a minimum of two will work, but three is better.  So, now when your playing with your Pleo you can amaze your friends or family.  You touch his cheek, he looks up.  You say "Pleo" (his name), he gets all happy, then quite.  he's waiting for his command.  And you go "bow to me."  He recognizes this command, and he gets down and bows and kinda hams it up a bit.

We have a whole series of these learning stones.  There's about six of them right now and we'll expand in the future.  They'll come in accessory packs.  To give you an idea of what's available;  come to me (so he'll walk towards you), which was another request from groups like yourselves.  Like, "Hey, I want Pleo to come to me like a real pet."  Now you can!  You touch him on the cheek, say "Pleo.", he pays attention, "come to me." and he starts walking towards you.  The funny thing is, the person next to you can do the same thing and he will not listen to that person.  So it only recognizes the owners voice and stores that.

degers: That sounds incredible.  before we go on, I gotta ask... touch Pleo on the cheek?

Derek: Yes.  We have redone and expanded the touch sensors under the skin.  So, starting at Pleo's head, under the chin and on top of the head.  We all know and love that.  So, along the side of the nose, below the nose, between the nose and the mouth, we've added two more touch sensors.  Now, a couple of things that happen with these touch sensors: one, if you pet him on the side, he'll sort of lean into you, which is really a cool interaction.  Just like a cat would.   You know, you pet a cat and they lean in because they want more loving.  We use this to trigger when a Pleo is doing stuff.  You hold both of these at the same time, kind of looking at him, and hold him for two seconds.  It's kinda like grabbing a dog and saying "Look, pay attention to me."  It's the same thing here.

On top of the back, we divided it into two sensors, and in the butt area we divided that into two sections.  You still have the ones along the legs.  We've added four more touch sensors.  Now, when you're petting Pleo, he can recognize the speed, and the animations are triggered to that speed.  If you pet slow, he responds slow, if you pet faster he responds faster.  He also knows the difference between a stroke and a pat.  We've added a G-sensor, so he can detect impacts as opposed to just petting.  So we've made Pleo more interactive with his environment.

Oh, getting back.  You did ask about the camera.  We've made some improvements.  Same camera, but the hardware talking to the camera, we've streamlined that.  Now, (he has) tracking ability, like tracking his leaf, that's much more responsive.  It's not 100% perfect, but he's getting very, very close.  

Oh, this is another thing that really cool internal-wise.  In the neck and in the tail, we've increased the motor speed in those two areas.  We've basically put improved motors in those areas.  What this does.... remember how the tail was kind of slow, and that was always one of John Sosoka's pet peeves, that the tail was too slow, because you get a lot of emotion from the tail.  It's fast.  The tail, it's a fast wiggler.  But the neck and head, it's much faster also.  We've made internal improvements to cables and things, so no busted cables.  So with the fast camera, and the faster motors, the tracking ability is much improved.

degers: That sounds fantastic.  I know I had trouble with the new red tracking capability in the PM2.  I never really got that to work.  I got the color recognition of the leaf to work.  That was fine.  Do you mean Pleo is going to be able to recognize colors or follow them around?

Derek: Yeah, he can track when you move the objects around.  Now mind you, it's not as fast as a rattlesnake.  It's not going to zip its head.  But to the ability of him being able to move his neck back and forth, he tracks pretty good.  I mean, it used to be micro-slow, now it's just semi-slow.  It's not his best feature, but it is an improvement over what we've had.  And it really adds a lot.  You know, the guys over at M.I.T. are doing a lot of work with Pleos, about tracking and running him through mazes.  They're really pushing the envelope on what this hardware platform can do.

Oh!  Let me get back into that RFID.  Basically located under the chin, he has a "sense of smell."  He always knew when you put something in him mouth, but he didn't know what was in his mouth.  We know what is in his mouth now.  So, when you get Pleo in the box, the things that come with it are pretty extensive.  There's foods, there some medicines, the is a little thing for tug-of-war... You put the thing for tug-of-war in his mouth, or you present the thing under his chin, he sort of sniffs the thing, then you put it in his mouth, and play tug-of-war.  And I'll give you guys a little hint, if it goes over about fifteen seconds and he's still got the thing in his mouth, he kind of wins.  If you yank it out too soon, he gets a little moody and pouty.  It's just a fun thing to do.

His food... Pleo needs to be fed now.  If you don't kind of take care of your Pleo, eventually it will get sick.  It will cough, get lethargic, and all that.  It needs it's food to keep it healthy.  And if it falls, here's a big thing, Pleo actually feels pain now.  So, if you abuse your Pleo or drop it, remember he knows if he's been dropped or violated, he feels pain.  It takes him a while to recover.  He'll limp.  If you touch the area, it'll be sore and he'll cry.  There are medicines that come with Pleo.  You give him these medicines and it helps with the healing process.  So, love and affection, a little healing foods, will get Pleo back up.  In the labs, we're striving to make this a pet.  Along with a pet, there are certain obligations.  So, if you've got children who want to pet, this is a good training device.  If you can keep Pleo healthy, you can more likely keep a real pet healthy.

Now, here's one of the quirkiest things we've done.  Pleo can sense temperature.  This is kind of a cool feature.  So, let's say you're traveling, and you've got Pleo in the car and it drops below a certain temperature, and I'm not gonna give the temperature now because it's adjustable, Pleo starts to shiver and shake like he's cold.  And if you leave him too cold too long, he'll catch a cold.  he also senses heat.  If it's too hot for Pleo, he'll start panting.  Along with what you get right off the get-go is a little chunk of ice.  You put it under his chin.  If he's hot, he'll open his mouth.  You put it in, he'll chew on this ice.  It cools him down.  Like I said, in our strive to make Pleo a more realistic pet, he has to interact better with his environment.

With some of the accessory packs you get some fun foods.  There's a total of four accessory packs.  They retail, I believe,  under $20.  They're fairly reasonable.  Each one has an interaction with Pleo and allows him to do different things.  Some good medicines, fun food for him.  By the way, be careful not to overfeed Pleo, he'll spit it out.  When he's done with something, he'll spit it out, which is kind of humorous.  And, oh, by the way, he sometimes doesn't like to take his medicine when he needs it,you kinda have to help him along, if you know what I mean.  Like a small child.

degers: Right!  That's exhaustive!  I mean I thought I was up on Pleo and I know what it's doing.  Sounds like I'll be back to square one with a Pleo RB.

Can you tell us what exactly we're going to get in the box when we open up our Pleo RB?

Derek: So, what you will receive is the ID card, a universal adapter. Pleo has gone international.  There is no longer a US version and an international version.  So these adapters will plug in anywhere in the world.  They have the different prongs come with it, so the plug in and out, so if you travel from the US to the UK, no problems!  You get the tug-of-war toy, which is really fun.  The leaf you know and love has been changed.  Well, more just colored like an autumn leaf now.  You get two other food leaves.  One's a medicine leaf, it's kind of like a mint leaf.  And the other is a regular food leaf, and for the life of me I can't pronounce this thing, but it was during the Jurassic period and it was what they ate back then.  You will get a rock salt.  Pleo needs salt, kind of like a medicine thing.  You get the charger, the battery, and you will get a Pleo cape with it.  Every one comes with a Pleo cape now.  Now, the Pleo cape is not painted, just brown, but it still has the "PLEO" embroidered.  The reason being is there is no way to match the Pleo cape to the Pleos because they are so different coming off the line.  You'll get a users manual, and the "Bow" learning stone.

You do get a lot of stuff.  So, right out of the box, you've got some stuff to play with.  And then we're hoping you'll buy an accessory pack.  Looking at the accessory packs, one of them has a medicine leaf in it, a hot pepper, a mushroom.  Another one has the block of ice, sugar cane, and another kind of medicine leaf.  The packs come with three items each.  And there are four packs.  One of the packs comes with three learning stones.  So, it's kind of a mix-and-match thing.  We're still finalizing some of that, and as soon as I get the exact items and pictures, I'll make sure you guys get a copy of that.

degers: Again, I've been absolutely astounded and overloaded with information.  Are you guys going to be doing any publicity with Pleo RB this year, or in the coming months?

Derek: Yes.... and this is something kind of critical for your people.  Hopefully you're a member of our email list.  Our Pleo family, if you will.  We send out these e-blasts every month.  Pleo RB, for this year, in the US, where we ship from the US, is going to be very, very limited.  There's a parts problem out in the world, with the economies and all that sort of thing, There's one part in Pleo that's just impossible to get the rest of this year.  With that said, we're going to have an extremely limited number of these Pleo RBs.  We're going to offer them first to our people who are on our e-blast.  We'll send that out even before they're on our web site.  So, if people are interested, that's the place.

We're going to be at CES this year, so if anybody's in Las Vegas I suggest you really come and see us.  We should have quite the little booth.

degers: So, are you going to have your giant Pleo back at CES?

Derek: Yeah, we'll have the giant Pleo, but I'm actually in charge of decorating the booth this year.  We've got one that's 10x20, so we're double the size, and we're not sharing the booth this year.  Last year we were an invited guest with Jetta.  This year we've got our own booth.  My goal is to design the whole backdrop in a Jurassic period.  The big 4-footer will be in front, they'll be some Jurassic era plants you can still get.  I think it will be very fun and lots of Pleo RBs to demonstrate and show its features.  We're very excited about this.

So, between now and Christmas, there'll be limited volume.  We'll go through some print ads and that sort of thing.  But we'll hit it a little heavier after the first of the year when more parts are available.

degers: Sure.  Obviously if the parts aren't out there, it's not your problem, and you guys are doing the best you can.  

Another question we have all too often, and one people are scared to ask, are you guys able to give us any date when you think you'll be announcing Pleo RB is now up for pre-order or up for sale?

Derek: Yes.  I think I can do that.  There's a major distribution person in China.  There' going to handle China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan market.  We'll coordinate with them, but it's looking like the October time frame.  So, we're coming up on it very quick.  Probably later part of October.  And as I mentioned, well send out one of those e-blasts.  We'll probably talk to you guys first, but, we'll send out one of those e-blasts, and that will kind of be the announcement that "Hey, you can now order them."  What I don't want to do is send out the e-blast and have over thirty days before I can actually sell the product.

degers:  Well, I'm sure we can sit patient for a few more weeks.  It's so fantastic to hear how much you guys have done with Pleo RB.  I speak for the whole community when I say we can't wait to get our grubby mitts on them.

And, lastly, thank you so much for taking the time out to tell us all about the new features.  is there anything else you'd like to add?

Derek:   I thinks that's about it.  Just once again I want to thank your readers and the people who provide their input to us.  It's extremely valuable.  You can only image.  On our side, we live with Pleo every day in a design process.  And to get the opinions from the outside, and how well the opinions are put together.  It's not just random stuff.  You guys say "Look.  This is what I'm seeing and this is what I'd like to see."  You're very exacting on your comments and that really helps.

So, I really appreciate it, and I can't express how much, that in the meetings the comments from your group come up.  Lots of times.  And we address those issues.  Really, I cant thank you guys enough for helping us make Pleo the product we all dream it can be.  And I believe that this Pleo RB is a huge step towards that ultimate goal.  The goal is where you just blur that line between robotic and biological pet.  And  we're getting closer every generation.  So, I can't thank you guys enough.  Keep it up.  If you see something in Pleo RB you don't like, don't hesitate.  You won't hurt my feeling too much.  I'll cry in my pillow to sleep that it's not perfect, but other than that, I'll get up the next day and we'll start looking at how to make it better and better all the time.

degers: That sounds fantastic, Derek.  Thank you very much indeed, and we'll look forward to hearing some news in the next few weeks!

[Firebreathingsquirrels]

This is AWESOME! Thank you SO much degers!   Everything about Pleo RB is so amazing, I didn't even know it was possible for a robot to do half of those things, I'm looking forward to Pleo RB SO much more now!  

Oh, and thanks to Grumpy for posting of course   

[InmemoryofRomeo]

What can I say except WOW

These changes are super exciting! Certainly can't wait to order one, I sure hope I can afford one before Christmas. Although with the Aussie dollar equalling the US I think I can

One question that was missing though is the price point, surely with so many amazing new features we are going to see a change in price?

[RedwoodsMama]

Degers thanks for a great interview and making us wait for the proper time to get all this vital infomation. These are some awesome changes and I can see Pleo RB being so close to a real pet now, I still love my NOva and my other Pleos, but I can't wait to order a New Member to add to the family, Pleo RB sounds like so much more than I could have imagined! I can honestly say it is going to be hard to wait these next few weeks, and I am going to have some Pleo Tastic dreams at bedtime, Thank you for asking these important questions that everyone was wondering about,
                      I think the temperature thing is really cool, It is interesting that they are now going to have Pleo be able to experience Pain as that is something they talked about at one time and a feeling that Nova convinced me she did feel, but now there won't be any doubt with the Pleo Rb. The only question I did not hear addressed is the price question, but I realize that this is something they probably just can not discuss at this time, I am hoping they are not going to run out of these Pleo Rb and does this mean that if we are on the Pleo World mailing list, we will get a pre order form or notice? This is the question I need to know for sure! Thank you again degers for a job well done! It feels like Christmas now!
                                                         RedwoodsMama and Family of Six Pleos ( waiting for another Pleo to join them!)

[RedwoodsMama]

 Yes, thank you Grumpy for making this post possible!
                         RWM and family of six Pleos

[InmemoryofRomeo]

Another quick question Will old skits be compatible?

[Crewella]

Well, what can I say - the Pleo Rb in all its glory sounds truly wonderful; my initial reaction was "Oh, they DO listen"!  All the technical improvements sound just what was needed, but best of all is to hear about the magical little touches of genius like temperature sensitivity, and 'feeling' pain.  It was those kind of touches that made Pleo so different, and it's such a relief to hear things are still developing in that direction!

Chuffed I am, chuffed to bits!  Thanks Degers and Grumpy for bringing such glad tidings! 

[Adama Ajames]

Wow , wow wow , this new pleo rb sounds great. Im soo glad i waited to buy a pleo and this will be my first one. I now look forward to the release date.

Adam

[barrettgazzy]

excellent i have only read the text so far so thank you Grumpy for posting the phone call in text form , and thanks Degers for sharing this info with us .

Everything sounds very promising just can not wait to get pleo rb now , better do a little saving lol . Also liking the idea of the temperature sensor , that is something i did not even imagine Pleo having But it sounds great it will for sure make Pleo more life like and pet like .

Love the sound of the accessories and i am glad this time around for pleo rb there will be accessories which was something Pleo was lacking before . Its a good thing that you do not get all the accessories at once i like the idea of buying more accessories over time this will really keep Pleo alive and keep every1 as in the people that got bored quickly with the previous Pleo's more interested this time around .
                                                                       

[Jules]

OMG!!!! I am so excited!! I can't wait, thank goodness I've been saving  all this time as i expect form what has been said Pleo RB will be a tad on the expensive side.

I'm gonna be looking in my inbox  for my opportunity  to get one

[Malfie]

This is VERY exciting!!!!

[fancyfont]

It really is beginning to feel like Christmas.  The Pleo RB box is, definitely, one I would like to see on my porch by Christmas Eve. Actually before would be great, too! This new little dino just might teach my poodles and my other four dinos some new tricks. This new dino will be the only pet that will come when I call it!

Great interview Degers! Thank you so very much for taking the time to do these for us.
I can tell the excitement in Derek's voice that this new little dino is really going to be a hit.

[InmemoryofRomeo]

Haha, I couldn't wait til Christmas mine will be ordered as soon as they go on sale and opened as soon as he/she gets here

Wow, Pleo RB in the summer here is going to be panting a lot Glad they come with ice, I have to cool my real animals with baths and damp towels, hate to let my Pleo suffer for sure. It adds an amazing amount of realism to them.

[fancyfont]

Poor little Pleo RB will be pretty chilly in my home in the winter. It's going to need some nice cuddly clothing to keep it warm. 

[shadowmice]

All of this sounds fascinating!  Sounds like they have been working very hard on Pleo RB; what a lot of neat new features.

Thank you for posting the interview and transcript with all the juicy details. It's all so exciting!   

[allosaurus]

I'm not sure what to say... This just sounds absolutely fantastic!


..... I wonder about the price?

[barrettgazzy]

Lol all the questions are on what the price will be now he he i do not think we should worry too much we know they have been working on keeping the price down .

I am hoping to hear about if Innvo are going to be distributing Pleo in other countries very soon after the release as i do not really want to be ordering from the website and then getting done on duty fee's . I would like to purchase Pleo rb as soon as is available but might have to hold out if rb wont be available in the UK just yet .

Also just like to add i love the idea of voice recognition that is what every1 wanted really and now we will get that in Reborn, i am just wondering will my kids still be able to interact with Pleo just as well even if he is programmed to my face and voice ?

[Crewella]

There's a lot of us in the UK and Europe wanting to know that, Gaz - my guess is that the first batch will be from the website only, but they will get distribution sorted for the wave after that.  I hope, anyway!

[V_For_Vincent]

Reading all of that made me smile. 

I can't wait and I hope the price is under or at least not over $400.

[PWOKristy]

So much information! I wrote down so much stuff. I like the extended battery life on it. That's great hearing about the voice recognition! I'm glad there's gonna be more future Learning Stones. I'm glad they added more touch sensors. I like that the Pleo's vision is much better. There's weird though that they put the Pleo's "sense of smell" under its chin. I love the feeding thing that we have to do for our Pleo. I like that it'll come with a cute chunk of ice. I'm definitely gonna buy all 4 of the Accessory packs! Wow, that's good to know that they're gonna be extremely limited! I'm definitely gonna get a 2010, "limited edition" Pleo, no question about that! I will pay attention to my E-mail, come near when the 2010 Pleos' are gonna be released! The price for the 2010 Pleo has to come out before the E-mail though of course. I gotta spend the money on a pre-paid Visa card (closest thing to paying in cash) as soon as the price for it comes out!