Pleo: Off the Endangered Species List?

Posted 9 Jun 2009 at 15:28 UTC by steve

Pleo, the robot dinosaur toy made by Ugobe was thought to be on its way to extinction but roschler writes with news of a possible reprieve for the endangered robosaur:

Jetta Company Limited, the company that manufactured the Pleo baby robot dinosaur for Ugobe, has bought the intellectual property rights and other assets at the Ugobe bankruptcy sale that occurred on May 21. Steve Ohler, the United States liaison for the company, confirmed the news saying that the company is firmly committed to re-launching Pleo and continuing the line including producing accessories such as the vital battery and charger components. Jetta is the original manufacturer and therefore the best possible company to have acquired Ugobe's intellectual property and re-launch Pleo. Steve remarked that all the equipment needed to produce Pleos and accessories were all still intact and ready to go. Jetta is an established company with a 32 year history in manufacturing based in China and Hong Kong, and as part of their illustrious manufacturing history they have produced parts for members of iRobot's consumer robot line.

For more info, see roschler's blog post on the Jetta announcement. Let's hope Jetta has better luck selling these than Ugobe did. I've noted before that the Pleo would make a great platform for robot hackers if it were just a little less expensive.

Know what else Jetta makes?, posted 10 Jun 2009 at 20:02 UTC by profesor » (Master)

Jetta also makes the iRobot Roomba (well, up to the 400 series) and Scooba:

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/dec2007/tc20071228_106857.htm