After an absolutely heart-wrenching video of Pleo being annihilated by a sadistic ComBot emerged yesterday, we're thrilled to add a little balance to the whole thing with a totally heartwarming clip today. Down at Sea World, Pleo was politely introduced to a number of animals in the park, though its interactions with the dolphins were particularly special. In the vid posted after the jump, you can go ahead and fast-forward to around the two minute mark -- there you'll find the true definition of a stud. Or maybe the pod just thinks miniature dinosaurs look extraordinarily tasty.

[Thanks, Robert]

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]

Although Pleo just got upgraded to v1.0.2 earlier this month, UGOBE is taking the Life OS to 1.1 and adding a laundry list of features to boot. Initially available for install only through an SD card (download via USB should hit within a few weeks), the update enables your favorite dino pet to sit, sing a variety of melodies, call for attention, get sick (coughing / sneezing) and change attitudes based on how much attention it gets. As these things always go, there's also the promise of a few unannounced inclusions ("strange habits," as it were), and it should be noted that previous downloads -- Holiday, Love-struck, MySkit, Yapt, etc. -- will need to eventually be re-downloaded in new versions to be compatible with the Life OS 1.1 update. Give the read link some attention to check out the changes, and fire up the download while you're over there.

[Thanks, Caaahl]

If Pleo's holiday behavior mode left you thirsty for more, chances are the first bona fide update to its Life OS won't disappoint. Version 1.0.2 enables your dino to explore its surroundings more, engage in fits of singing when encountering groups, and hear erratic noises when sleeping softly. Of note, UGOBE promises the update won't change your Pleo's existing personality, so apparently, there's nothing to lose (but more spare time). Go on, hit up the read link and start that download -- right after you tell Pleo to expect a treat, of course.

We guess it was only matter a time until it happened. Still, we can't help but feel a bit sad and creeped-out at seeing Pleo splayed in a Santilli-esque display of sideshow curio. Inside, the evil doctors over at ifixit reveal a single-piece, rubbery skin covering 14 motors, more than 100 gears, 15 circuit boards, 1 color camera, 2x microphones, 1 IR transmitter, 1 accelerometer, and 8 touch capacitance sensors. Plenty of high-res shots just beyond the read link. Man, aren't there laws against this kind of thing?

Ah, Pleo. The world's freshest, friendliest and most unpredictable robot dinosaur. At first glance, it's hard to imagine changing anything about this bundle of cuteness, but for the loyal souls that waited through agonizing months of delays and kept the faith when everyone else was crying vaporware, we're sure they've got a few pointers for improvement. Granted, those who fell head over heels for this creature as soon as the first press shot surfaced may simply be thrilled to finally have one roaming around the backyard, but for demanding fossil collector, those sentiments aren't enough to satisfy.

Now that the holiday rush is over and normalcy is slowly returning, we're giving those mettlesome early adopters a shot at tweaking this blast from the past. How could UGOBE have made this prehistoric monster a bit more enjoyable? Maybe toss in some WD-40 for those über-noisy gears? What about throwing in a digestive system to take care of those crumbs the kids drop at supper? Or maybe just blessing it with an IQ slightly higher than a loggerhead turtle? Truth be told, even we think there's plenty to love about Pleo, but as you've seen, we've been stumped by its actions on more than one occasion. Thankfully, Pleo's maker is already on the ball with regard to updates, but who's to say you can't toss in some input for upgrades yet to materialize? Go on, be honest with yourself -- just make sure your dino is sound asleep before crushing its feelings, okay?

Yeah, we gave you a plethora of hatching photos to ooh and ahh over when we received our first Pleo, but considering our inexplicable fear of needles and prehistoric blood, we never considered taking things any further. Apparently, the folks over at Pleo Dreams completely disregarded our recommendation to not de-skin the dinosaur, and proceeded to remove every square centimeter of Pleo's covering on video. Believe it or not, things get pretty interesting once the garb comes off, but you'll have to endure a near-24 minute clip in order to say you saw the entire procedure from start to finish. You ready? It's waiting after the break.

After waiting for what seems like ages, we can imagine just how excited one would be to finally receive that beautiful brown shipping container with their very own Pleo tucked within. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on perspective) for one particular German, an unspecified retailer sent out what appears to be a prototype dino, complete with a pieced together box that once held a fax machine. Interestingly, it seems the lucky recipient is rather perturbed by the incident, but being the optimistic crew that we are, we'd actually hang on to this thing for bragging rights or discover its true value courtesy of eBay. Hit the read link for a few more shots.

[Thanks, Jared C.]

Ah, if only all behavior modification of pets, children, and certain unruly celebutantes (you know who you are) were as easy as Pleo's new downloadable "Holiday Pleo" behavior mode. It's about a meg and will run straight off an SD card, so get your dino-ho-ho on -- that is, if you're lucky enough to even have one of these things.

[Thanks, Jared C]

Hard to believe it's been almost two years since Ugobe's Pleo was first announced, but today one of our very own showed up at our doorstep, sweet as a newborn (new-hatched?) Camarasaurus. Pleo's certainly undergone a lot of physical changes since we saw it in the early days, now sporting a more adorable shape (as well as cameras and sensors studded all over its precious little head). A few first impressions and fresh details

• Pleo's skin is rubbery-sticky (a little like the soles on a brand new pair of Cons). We can totally see this thing feeling like a dinosaur.
• The motors on this thing are loud. Like, kind of distractingly loud. Yet somehow it remains ineffably adorable. You just want to take care of the little bugger.
• You hatch it early on by flipping its power switch and petting it until it awakens from its deep, late-Jurassic-era slumber.
• Jury's still out on the Tim Allen-esque grunting noises.
• Ugobe PR let us know that the first version of Life OS (the software that powers Pleo) isn't really set up to "evolve" as it was supposed to, but there will be new versions of Live OS in 2008, which will enable behavioral optimizations and that "evolution" thing.
• There will be an SDK! Take that, Aibo. Poor, poor Aibo, dead as a dino--never mind.
• Despite having a massive, heavy NiMH battery pack, it's only 2200mAh;

We're still letting Pleo get situated and acquainted (read: charge) but we've got a hands-on gallery below, and video and plenty more Pleo details after the break. So, who's down for a quick refresher on chaos theory?

It's no secret: songs about gadgets are a scourge upon the earth. And that's why they're awesome. The latest of these little ditties that'll have you humming in the shower tomorrow morning -- and raving like a lunatic the day after -- is "The Pleo Song," courtesy of RobotsRule. The song was written to celebrate Ugobe's announcement of 30 day shipping notices for Pleo, which we suppose is as good an excuse as any to write a gratingly bad song about a robotic dinosaur. "Remember the heart of a child knows that love goes with Pleo." If you still think you can stomach it after that little teaser, the YouTube version is after the break.

With just weeks to go until Americans everywhere lose their minds in the holiday shopping rush, UGOBE is announcing that its long (long) awaited Pleo is finally hitting the production line. Furthermore, the company insists that those who pre-ordered the dinobot directly from UGOBE will receive a 30-day shipment notification "before Thanksgiving," and those who placed their order with "any US retailer" will have their new toy before December 25th. In case that's not enough to win back your heart, you can also look forward to a revamped website next month that will allow owners to download a "surprise mode" for their creature. Speaking of downloads, those wondering if this thing really will be able to "learn and develop a unique personality based on how it is raised" can anticipate "free software updates" aimed at enabling that feature (and possibly others) sometime next year. Hang tight kiddos, Pleos are being hatched as we speak.

From now on, when we can't sleep at night, we'll be counting Pleos.

[Via Robots Rule]

Bad news for the cuddly adorable dino-robot hopeful in the audience, Ugobe is announcing yet another Pleo delay today, this time due to a battery issue. Not only will Pleo hatch another month late (from October into late November), Ugobe is also estimating some 50% drop in the initially planned population of Pleos, thanks to the current design's internal battery temperature safety cutoff, which has the undesirable side effect of preventing a full charge. Ugobe is moving the battery charging off-board in order to ensure owners expecting an hour of Pleo play time won't wind up with 30 or 45 minutes, but this comes at the expense of time and killing off half the initial Pleo population. Fortunately, those who pre-ordered Pleos should be in the clear getting their dinobot, but the holiday scarcity issue is a little scary for the rest of us who didn't account for the possibility of yet another jacked-up eBay Christmas.