Could you ever love a Robot?

Play with Pleo

The cute little dinosaur, Pleo, reacts to touch and noise. Sing to him, stroke him and watch him wriggle and sway in contentment. A colour camera with white light system allows him to detect light and motion and see colours. Sensors enable him to feel and a speaker means he can communicate via honks and hoots. Pleo can react to being hurt and even end up limping. His recovery depends on the level of nurture he receives!

He was designed by a company called Ugobe which makes unique products known as Life Forms whose intention is to blur the line between technology and life. According to its website it “works to re-create known species, engineer beneficial hybrids, and transform previously inanimate objects into lifelike creatures using its Life OS platform”.

MicroMagic

The iC Hexapod is another member of the expanding hexapod family designed by Matt Denton of MicroMagic Systems. It responds to and recognises the people it meets and can take a photo and publish it directly from its hexapod brain to its own personal blog.

Micromagic systems supplies animatronic, robotic and puppet control systems and services to the film and TV industry. It has developed a range of products which have featured in productions ranging from Harry Potter films to a music video for Massive Attack!