Sega Toys' Dream Pony is one freaky robot
By Evan Blass 
posted Sep 15th 2006 1:05PM
posted Sep 15th 2006 1:05PM
Remember the Uncanny Valley? It's that place where robots look very much like the biological entities that they're meant to emulate, but just dissimilar enough to give them a very creepy appearance. Well we'd suggest that Sega Toys' upcoming Dream Pony falls squarely into the valley, as the 4-foot tall bot certainly resembles a real mini horse -- though as you can see in the pictures (both here and after the jump), it probably has the potential to really freak people out. Nonetheless, Sega is confident that this latest addition to its zoo of robotic pets will be popular enough among little girls (and immature men such as ourselves) that it can move 10,000 of these strange toys per year. Since you wouldn't pay $600 for a stuffed animal that just sat around looking weird, Dream Pony -- a virtual doppelgänger for Hasbro's Butterscotch -- responds to visual, audio, and tactile stimulation by jerking its head around or emitting a frightened whinny, among several other forms of exciting feedback. Although this robopony won't actually trot around the neighborhood like the real one your parents would buy you if they weren't so stingy, you can still sit on its back (assuming you're under 80 pounds) and "feed" it a plastic carrot over and over again. All-in-all, the Dream Pony doesn't really seem to provide the kind of long-term playability you'd get from an Xbox or a Robosapien, but once your little girl starts begging and whining for one, you'll have little choice but to welcome Dreamy into your home.[Via Pink Tentacle]
Hey guys! What's going on?
I for one welcome our petbots. I so bad want a robot. So bad.
Wow, I find that the "I, for one, welcome..." posts are unexpectedly hilarious after the 14,350th time.
I, for one, am dissapointed that there are not 14351 comments on this thread so that Adam A's comment, "Wow, I find that the "I, for one, welcome..." posts are unexpectedly hilarious after the 14,350th time." could become ironic.
I, for one, think you may be overeacting to the first post.
I,for One, would send this horse to the glue factory
I, for one, welcome the somtimes witty, over-zealous, over-posting, over commenting, over-lords.
I, for one, will pray that this horse has a humping capability so that I can be pleasured.
i, for one, want to see all the posts under here start with "i, for one"
I,for one , Second that , Tijauna donkey shows !!
I, for one, feel as if I need to explain my previous post, the title says he is a "freaky" horse.
I, for one, am more freaked out by that creepy chimpanzee head than this thing.
I, for one, am waiting for the news headline "Dream Pony becomes Night-Mare, tramples family"
I, for one, love this bandwagon
"I, for one, am waiting for the news headline "Dream Pony becomes Night-Mare, tramples family""
LOL!
Oops, I mean, "I, for one, LOL"
What will it do if you brand it?
I, for one, hope Adam is happy with the monster he created by being an overly serious douche.
I, for one, thank you all for the 1st good laugh of the day.
I, for one, think that Electro should be slapped for form deviation. For shame!
I, for one, welcome the aforementioned "I, for one" engadget posting overlords.
I, for one, would be more interested in this if it could walk around.
I, for one, welcome our smartass-comment-posting overlords.
I, for one, also wonder what would happen if everyone on the usenet posted like this.
"Well, we could build a large wooden badger..."
I, for two (yes, I'm bi-polar), wonder why there is no "output" function, as that seemes to be a big part of the horse-owning experience.
A pony is not a baby horse.
I, for one, know that a pony is simply a smaller type of horse, not a baby horse.
I, for one, think Little Donny should be stuffed in a little pony suit for violating the I, for one, posting format.
I, for one, look forward to a day when cat ladies start collecting Dream Ponies.
I, for one, wish the weight limit were higher so I could ride it naked.
I, for one, think we have to beginning of a new form of Jeaopardy without all that "in the form of a question" crap.
I, for one, will strap my Dream Pony to a Segway so that it may chase children down on its Evil Hunt.
You're all sheep.
I for one love these excellent, illustrative photos of the iCat.
http://www.segatoys.co.jp/yumeneko/index.html
I, for one, would like to have one, for I.
I, for one, wonder how many young girls (and curious/more-money-than-sense Engadget editors/readers) will be institutionalized thanks to forgetting to shut their Dream Pony down before going to bed.
I, for one would like to see the end to this "I, for One" marathon... At least for today.
I, for one, have decided to become a plastic carrot farmer so that the Dream Pony overlords around the world may become well fed.
I, for one, must object to the suggestion that Robosapien offers "replayability". My first-gen RS has been sitting under my computer desk, un-played-with, for over 3 months. And I have a 9-year-old son! (Not that he doesn't try to play with it once in a while, but we can only take so much digital farting noises, "BOOP!", and the demo song/dance routine.)
Reminds me of my childhood -- my brother got a real pony once, believe it or not, and the result was pretty much the same as with my Robosapien -- play with it for a while, then, bleh. Mostly because the pony'd roll over whenever you try to ride her.
I, for one, ...really nothing to say here, just wanted to get in on the "I, for one..." action.
I, for one, am very creeped out by this entire post (comments included).
i41 would like to see what havoc this "pony" doth wreak.......
"Mostly because the pony'd roll over whenever you try to ride her."
I, for one, think that comment is entirely inappropriate when taken out of context.
I, for one, welcome all of our robotic animal overlords so we may see the animal kingdom ruling over the Earth again, but in a strange unnatural twist
I, for one, believe that combining the comment, "Mostly because the pony'd roll over whenever you try to ride her" and Nith's comment regarding " a strange unnatural twist," both describe the unfortunate outcome and hopefully provide sufficient deterrent.
I, for two, think that comment is wholly inappropriate when taken out of context.
I can't wait for Sega Toys Dream Catherine the Greatbot, up next!
"Reminds me of my childhood -- my brother got a real pony once, believe it or not"
I, for one, do not believe you.
I, for one, think... OMG robotic ponies!
I for one love reading the comments.
I, for one, think this thing looks an awful lot like the horsie in Viva Pinata after it jumps out of your XBox 360 and maims you for not feeding it:
http://www.xbox360fanboy.com/2006/08/28/viva-pokemon-pinata-explored/
TTFN
I, for one, will not be reading past the fifth comment on this page. Peace out.