Pleo gets thoroughly obliterated by demented ComBot
It's not that we've never seen the insides of Pleo, it's that we've never seen it splayed so inhumanely. During Maker Faire 2008, a middleweight ComBot known as Vicious Verdict was placed in the ring with UGOBE's cuddly dinosaur, and suffice it to say, Pleo didn't stand a chance. The entire death lasts about three minutes, but there's a solid minute of taunting that goes on before the ComBot starts the decimation process. Straight up, this is one of the more haunting things we've ever seen happen to a poor, helpless, animated robot. Vid's after the break for your sickos who dare.
[Via Tech Digest]
[Via Tech Digest]



















Awesome I'll take 20 and start a karnage farm ;)
Run pleo! Runnnnn!!!
wait...so, which robot won?
Watch PETA find a way to call this animal cruelty.
You do realize what a pathetic, moronic, comment that is, don't you. Why don't you watch some of the videos that PETA shows to new members and wipe that idiotic attitude off your face.
i get strong desires for a chicken sandwich from chick fil a whenever i see that video omega.
steak too.
mmmMMmmm.. steak..
@0megapart!cle:
Why don't you watch a video of 2 certain girls sharing a certain cup and swear off taking a dump/eating choclate ice cream for the rest of your life?
I am AGAINST animal cruelty even though I am a meat eater. I do not believe PETA is the one and only representative of such a cause.
BTW, if you think meat consumption = animal cruelty, then plant consumption = plant cruelty. Thus, we should all just drop dead.
Plants are living just as we are. They reproduce. They grow. They survive.
Haha! PWNED!
deserved it. =]
i had a dream like this once. pwn.
it would be fun if you were pleo.
Nooooo! You sick B@$#@DS! What did that poor thing ever do to you?
You guys need to be put in jail. Just like Mike Vick!
that's how the dinasaurs became extinct. omg there's little kids there.
Pleo got MERCED
Thats just wrong. What did pleo ever do to them?
I swear, your avatar has a mustache. Just thought I'd put that out there.
That made me cry a little. Poor, poor Pleo.
If more women frequented this hallowed site, this article would a source of great outrage, with gnashing of teeth, inconsolable wailing, and promises of revenge against the malfeasance of might makes right against the epitome of cuteness. Dare I say the chivalric enneagram popularized in medieval jousting would suffer verdicts of hormone-driven chauvinism.
However, given Engadget's demographic, we'll probably see a lot of p0wnage.
Collage -
1 a: an artistic composition made of various materials (as paper, cloth, or wood) glued on a surface b: a creative work that resembles such a composition in incorporating various materials or elements
2: the art of making collages
3: hodgepodge
4: a work (as a film) having disparate scenes in rapid succession without transitions
"collageboy"
Vic20 are you a boy made from several images of other boys?
Will,
Why no -- no, I'm not! I have, however, been known to employ a hodgepodge of various elements in the art of making disparate sentences in rapid succession.
Thx for that stereotype. I'm sure the women who do frequent this site appreciate it.
I fucking love Pleos, but it was still awesome seeing one get obliterated.
that blade on wheels had no class. No class at all.
I had high hopes Pleo would grow up like his father. It's just not fair.
It's just no fair!
*sniff, sniff*
Pleeeoooooooooooooooooooooo!
Call me a pussy, but I really didn't feel comfortable watching that.
I did however lol at the "GO PLEO!".
Yeah, im usually pretty sadistic, but that made me feel kinda bad inside.
some people have money to burn
the cost of killing Pleo is nothing compared to the free coverage / advertising the Pleo guys are getting from it.
Sad but true.
@tekdroid,
this is negative PR. who's gonna wanna buy a dinosaur that gets its ass handed to it? i'm want my dinosaur to be a bamf.
Pfft. WowWee Roboquad would have owned him.
I think they need to make Robot Wars: Consumer Electronics edition.
Shocking! I'm calling PETA right now!
I want to put a ding in the universe—Steve Jobs
Completing his sly, posthumous revenge, Pleo's ruptured Polonium 209 power-pack ensures slow, horrifying death to all in attendance...
Trouble is, the ComBot isn't a bot at all, it a remote controlled lawnmower/weed eater. Oh, and it outweighs Pleo by 1000% or more.
Give Pleo a weapon, and demand an autonomous opponent of near equal weight.
You Bastards!
yeah, very crude appliance :)
Totally mismatched.
One day when robots rule the world...
it will be a human in there not pleo.. and all robots will be watching on tv laughing at our struggle to survive
Everybody Loves Pleo
Dont let the hippies see this. It'll be the new 'bloodsport'.
That was pretty pointless. The "combat robot" wasn't a robot at all, just a remote controlled vehicle with a spinning blade on it. This really wasn't any different than if they'd just gone after the thing with a chainsaw.
Not sure what they were trying to prove with this, other than "hur hur, Pleo is cute, let's destroy it with something that's freakin' awesome."
Poor Pleo. After that first hit was Pleo's tounge hanging out like a poor animal that really got smacked? Sorta sad actually.
Not like there's anything wrong with this but, there were kids in that area. I know I wouldn't have allowed my 4 and 5 year olds to see this.
I'm willing to bet you let them play Super Smash Bros: Brawl.
@Low Ranked: I'm waiting a couple more years before I start getting them into the Console thing (handheld and regular). Frankly, it's hard enough to get them to do their homework instead of watching Noggin' or Sprout.
What I wanted to get across is that I don't think it's a good idea to allow ones kids (8 and under I'd say) to see something like this. It's pretty disturbing to watch. Specially since kids would build a bond with something like a Pleo. That's all.
Aww. That was kinda sad.
Now put the owners of 'Vicious' in the ring with it.
One day our robot overlords will look back at this video and shudder at how primitive they once were...
I see people still think everything R/C is a robot. Sad and a mockery of robotics.
I think I died a little inside watching that. Years of research and development, mechanical and software engineering, all to bring a $300 plastic lizard to life. And all it took was an RC lawnmower from hell to dash the dreams of many into rubbery little chunks of quivering dino detrititus.
I need some slow-mo shots of the pleo with the terminator 2 soundtrack in the background. He can raise one dino nub in approval as he is slowly lowered into a gas station garbage can.
That is the funniest thing I've heard this week!! lol
Awe.....wait for it.....some!
For some unexplainable reason, I felt genuinely saddened by this lame video. I see Pleo as a prophet of doom, a brave individual who faced our rising robotic overlords alone and died in an attempt to warn us of the real dangers that remote-controlled lawnmowers could pose should they ever rebel against their creators. Let not Pleo's death have been in vain!
Be warned- WE ARE NEXT!!!!!!!!!
lol
I don't even know why you guys posted this.
This is so sad.
Graphic warning please :(
Poor Pleo... :(
It looks like a scene in the movie, AI...
That's just wrong.
Crikey, why does it take 3 minutes to kill Pleo? Even without taunting, it still takes a couple minutes of flinging him about to wreck him properly. How badly designed is Combot?? Not only can't it do its job, but it has absolutely no magic or imagination about it. Well done on another celebration of mediocrity.
Next we'll have video of Honda's ASIMO torturing a Sony AIBO with a screwdriver.... then the human mimicry will be complete and they will have all the knowledge they need to turn on their fleshy creators.
I submitted this!!
last weekish
That was so sad. :(
It reminds me of that one scene in the movie A.I. where they destroy all the old robots as part of some sort of carnival sideshow event.
i was JUST going to write that!! Being the scfi nerd i am, AI is one of my most favorite flicks of all time. And the first thing i thought of when i saw this was..."its a little TOO much like the Flesh Carnival in AI"...it is a pretty sad thing to watch (even though they are but metal lol)
I can only hope mankinds twisted desire for carnage doesnt comeback to bite us in the @ss when we do make robots with true AI...of course we all already know how that ends..
Precisely. the point of that scene in the movie was to show how cruel and inhumane the humans were.
Life imitating art indeed!
This is sick... and engadget should NOT be promoting this... other then to discuss how irresponsible this is in a branding sense.
This is an item marketed to children, and I for one would not let my child watch this...
As an owner of a cute little Pleo, this was really painful to watch....
Whatever happens, make sure your Pleo doesn't watch this. Either he will start abusing drugs or he will kill you while you are sleeping...
Uh... hello??? How does the Robo-Revolution ALWAYS start? By forcing the robo's to submit to ridiculue and punishement at our bidding!! Don't think Pleo didn't send out a wireless distress calling for the destruction of human kind.
We only have ourselves to blame.
In the meantime... who wants to see Vicious VS. ElmoSapien?? I do!
That video was sick and funny at the same time. :)
I, for one, welcome our Pleo-destroying robotic overlords.
As a Pleo owner I know I felt like kicking it around a few times frustrated by it's inane behaviour. Ripping skin that flakes paint, chipping teeth and 1 hour battery with a 4.5 hour recharge, this thing is no more capable of learning than it's predecessor Furby (invented by the same person) and look at the videos on YouTube of what people are doing to those LOL. Run Pleo Run?? I'd say more like dumb Pleo dumb.
I've never liked that Pleo thingy, However that footage was beyond evil, But fun at the same time.
People with too much time on their hands. I mean what kind of ridiculous entertainment is this? And they've wrecked a cool toy a lot of kids and grownups would like to have. Call me crazy, I'm just not a fan of needless destruction, even of a machine.
Now creation, that's a lot harder to do, eh? Shame of how easy it is to destroy what takes so much more time, energy and effort to create.
NO PLEO! RUN! RUNNNNNNN! RUN PLEO RUUUUUUUNNNN!!!! *covers his eyes* Oh the humanity...wait...oh well.
That reminds me... I need to sharpen the blade on my lawnmower.
overkill much?
poor thing :(
This reminds me of "Flesh Fairs" on AI.....crazy...
hahahahaha this is hilarious! i think someone should make a large combot with a mouth and watch robot predation! gives "food chain" a whole new meaning
Wait a minute, who markets Pleo to kids? All I see online when I search for Pleo is lonely middle aged dudes...
=(
I wish I could buy a Pleo to save them from all the carnage the internet throws at them.
This must have been terrible for all the small kids watching. Twice so for the little ones who thought Pleo was real...
It's like watching a bodybuilder with a baseball bat beat the hell out of a mentally handicapped kid in a wheelchair. There's really no point in it if there's no chance for the other to win. I agree with Spyvie about giving Pleo a weapon and an evenly matched opponent.
Two Pleos modified to swing blades at each other when they get near the other Pleo (or something similar) would be worth watching.
AHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAH
HAHAHAHAHHAHA
AHHHHHHHHHHAAHHAHAHAHAHHAHA
IT´S A PLASTIC TOY! To anyone genuinely offended by this video, please do the world a favor and NEVER breed!
"decimation process"? I don't think you really meant to say 10% of the pleo was destroyed...
I really don't understand how this is controversial. A lawnmower runs over a toy and some people think its graphic enough to require a warning? Grow some skin. If it had been a puppy or a kitten I could understand outrage, Hell, I would be upset, but the destruction of an overpriced toy is nothing. If you are going to waste time and energy getting upset about some random thing on the internet, why not do a search for images of collateral damage in Iraq, and do it without any content filters, there is something worth getting upset over and commenting on. Try to keep things in perspective.
For real, people are getting upset about this? It's friggen metal, rubber, and plastic. They're making a bunch of em. No-one strapped an M80 to a GI-Joe when they were a kid? At least he looked like a human... C'mon, calm yourselves.
This video isn't remotely funny. I wouldn't let my 7 yo watch this. And yes, the pun was intended. Take the video off, Ryan.
Everyone here seems to be saying that this is nothing more than a plastic toy, and that anyone who is freaking out about this needs to "grow a backbone." While I mostly agree with these comments, we do need to take videos like this as a veiled threat against our current state of ethics and morality. Yes, the AI on the dinosaur is not very good. One could even say that the remote controlled death-bot-of-ultimate-destruction has more brains... but it does pose the lingering question: when does something like this become less of a joke, and more of a problem? People here are mentioning the flesh fair from AI, but remember that there are a lot of people who really feel like that. Where do we really draw the line between destruction of an obnoxious toy, and the torture of a legimately intelligent being? when it becomes as smart as an ant? as a dog?
Now, I know most people that come to places like this have already given this some thought, and probably have a line drawn in their own minds, but what about the people who havent? These future flesh fair attendees are more numerous than I would hope at least. Rather a bit more sobering post than I would have hoped to start off the weekend.
Possibly I would have prefered they opened it up and hacked into a similarly competing robot of death - thus giving combot a run for its money. That is, after all, what the maker fayre is all about isn't it?
Now I know the robot wars have started.
Pleo, get your revenge! :)
Sad...yet funny...funnier is hearing the kids scream with every hit. My only complaint is that they could have gotten a better robot to kick the Pleo's butt! Many of the robots are incredible with what they can do...that one was pretty boring. But you gotta give it up for the Pleo...it stood up for a good while when it was completely NOT built for this. Hahaha.
What's driving me mad is the attitude of these people: to create robots to destroy them...poor intelligent robots of the future, what a destiny is around the corner...