That could be my favorite video of all time. Seriously.

I can't believe you guys work for the Sci-Fi Channel and passed up the opportunity to choke a robot dinosaur while saying "IF THIS IS A CONSULAR SHIP, WHERE IS THE AMBASSADOR?"

Oh sure, now you've gone and traumatized him. He's going to grow up to be a serial killer! ;)

When the robots take over you will be the first to die because of this...

Robot dinosaur cruelty? Did we learn nothing from Spielberg's A.I.?

Did you try waterboarding?

Agree with Feersumender. That will be a glorious day when a robot has it's way with you.

Waterboarding is not torture

I think this is great since my gf likes to harrass the cat, she can harrass Pleo now :)

Wow, I really regret watching that video. We now have some seriously bad robot karma. First to the wall in the robot revolution for this one. :)

You'd better watch out for PETRD... People for the Ethical Treatment of Robot Dinosaurs...

You Make Me Sick.

disgusting

Yes, sick, disgusting....and yet hilariously funny. Go figure. (It's only a robot.)

The most interesting thing isn't the results you got. It is, part 1, that you thought it would be interesting to do this to a glorified waffle iron, part 2, that I found myself so curiously distressed by it, and, part 3, that some of the comments here express anger at you with no suggestion that they are kidding.

As Spock would say, fascinating.

The choking was hilarious, as well as you slowing down the pain noises it was making.

The sad thing is, in 30 years when the robots rise up, they are going to find this video and perform the same acts on us. ;-)

this made me sick. I will NEVER treat my pleo like that.

creul and mean poor pleo ='( i feel for a robot dinosaur

Wow, I totally just did the same tests to my cat, and what do you know, he died too! Stupid cat.

The interesting thing about the Pleo and it's very advanced AI program is that it does remember how you treat it! It’s future behaviors will be shaped by the way you interact with it!

OMG! It's weird if I think this is horrible? I know it's a machine and all but knowing that it can "remember" how you treat it! I think its cruelty
Don't do this again please

Yeah, it must be the sound it made but that was kinda horrifying to watch. I felt really bad for it even though its not alive. The sounds were chilling.

why can't i watch this? what do i click?

Uh... where the hell is the video? What do I click? All I am seeing here is a bunch of pictures and a list of comments saying how wonderful the video is. Great... where is the video?!

I don't get the video either. Where is it?

Video is down?

I do not see a video. did you guys take it down?

OMG!! I just saw the video!! It finally loaded. That poor robotic thingy!! They should have an age limit of 7 and up or something. You should be able to adopt it like Cabbage Patch Kids

The reactions of pity and disgust are a testiment to the designers skill and an indicator of it's future success. When I first saw renderings of this thing months ago I was indifferent, but after seeing it in action I want one! If it survives the vivisection I'll give it to my daughter.

The FedEx guy arrived with my Pleo as I was walking out the door to work so it's just sitting there until I get home.

This is going to be the longest day ever.

ARGHHH.

TL

P.S. Find Pleo news, photos, videos and more at Pleo HQ... http://pleohq.com

this is sad.

Please don't hurt him anymore.

How many slow motion replays do you need of the same thing? What is this, youtube?
Get someone other than a 12 year old to edit your videos FTW

Now will UGOBE ever send you another product to review?

Too bad he's not programmed to piss in his tormentor's eyes.

One, I'm actually kind of impressed that the designers took potential cruelty into account. Most "AI" toys so far, like Furbies or Robosapiens, only have positive responses, really.

Two, it's a testament to the Pleo's realism that this video disturbs me (and others). Consider the feelings you have watching this and those you might have watching a video of someone doing this to a cat. For just a "glorified waffle iron," we do feel for it.

This is the funniest thing to say the least, but the comments are even funnier.

Horrible even though its fake I couldnt bear to watch I mean maybe its not so bad but why are these people wasting theire lives doing it?

Fuckin' fascinating. Robot abuse. If this is what's being delivered to the public, imagine what the military has done.

Thanks to you guys, the next version of Pleos are going to have defensive capabilities built in. Now THAT will be a video worth watching... "Now we're going to violently shake the Pleo 2.0. Listen as it mewls...OH MY GOD, IT JUST SPRAYED ACID IN MY EYES!!! AIIIGHHHH" {camera drops and video fades to black)

Where the hell is the video?

If you people would just wait about 30 seconds the video will start loading below the headline.

Rated down. No ads before videos, please.

I'm so sad
you killed him

that was awesome

My iPod makes a choking noise when I listen to your favorite band.

Pure genius, guys. Thank you for doing the dirty deed we all would have done eventually (behind closed doors when our 4yr olds weren't watching)!

Pure genius, guys. Thank you for doing the dirty deed we all would have done eventually (behind closed doors when our 4yr olds weren't watching)!

i wanted to watch your video, but it wouldn't load because it couldn't load an ad from doubleclick.

Not sure you know any Ritalin addicted kids since you are not using the arsenal of choice: M80's, M1000, BB-Guns, Paintball guns and the all time favorite "Lighter Fluid with Matches".

Não gostei do Video... Mesmo sendo uma máquina dá pena do Bichinho indefeso... Quando chegar ao Brasil com certeza vou comprar um para minha filha brincar...

I recognize from the content of the inter-titles that this video is a form of play and a sharing with others. Your post and some of the subsequent comments confirms, for me, that we live in a culture which finds violent play permissible and enjoyable. Moralistically, I'm not indicating that this is wrong, and I want to ask; what might this indicate?, what might be the cost?

Poor Pleo. I'm going to start a non-profit to help in prevention of cruelty to pleos now! So sad. Okay, and funny. This thing is genius!

It's funny that so many people are affronted by these tests. It is a machine. Do we not conduct similar stress tests on other machines? If your iPod cried when you stuffed it in a pocket or your purse would you stop?

Maybe that's what the mfr's need to do, build the tools of our daily lives to react to abuse and misuse.

one word... Terminator. Pay back's a bitch

The writer's strike has left you folks with too much time on your hands.

Just wait till his big brother, Grimlock, hears about this! XD

Additionally... I'm really surprised at the people who think it's odd that someone would be offended by torturing an inanimate object. This particular inanimate object was designed specifically to invoke feeling in a person. It's cute, it's cuddly and it doesn't matter that it isn't really alive- we still respond as if it is. We personify inanimate objects all the time, we even make movies about it(toy story, AI, Transformers, Cars, ect...)! so why are people surprised that someone would find torturing a toy offensive? It's meant to be a surrogate pet for some, so in a way you're torturing someone's puppy.

Who cares about the pleo, it's not like it really "feels" any of that anyway. It just receives electrical impulses from its many sensors and reacts accordingly. This represents a large step in the robotics industry by bringing advanced AI to the consumer.

Where can i get Pleo for my grandson?

The fact that people are ambivalent about this video proves that the pleo's engineers and programmers did a damned good job.

And yes, when the robot uprising occurs, you're totally screwed.

awww..... poor little guy. however, i must say i haven't laughed so hard in months...

I felt sorry for the little guy until the end where he crashed and froze up. That reminded me of my PC and all sympathy was gone. You should see how I treat my PC...

@Dangerous Driver:
Humans also receive electrical impulses from their many sensors and react accordingly. Do you feel?

That said, this is not a living thing, so it could not answer the question "Are you alive?"

Yeah we have a little rant over at Suicidebots about this. . .it is a god discussion though. . .

@ Dangerous Driver. Besides what Nexus saying being true, (and it is), humans are also considered 'machines'. They are just of an electro-chemical nature, unlike robots which are electro-mechanical.

Ok, that was barely abuse. Dropping him? C'mon, you put him down fairly gently head first. Knock that sucker off the table, you know that's what a kid is going to do!

Keep up the good work. It's just a matter of time before the Toasters turn on you.

You suck. You are encouraging Pleocide.

i would feel so bad after he died...
how do you guys live with yourselves?

I so want to work for scifi if this is what my job is going to be like.

thats messed up i dont care if its a robot, a animal, or whatever its not right to tourture something and make it scream like that

Would anybody like some toast?

Waffle irons do not have emergent behavior. How much of a devices behavior must be emergent (not preprogrammed) before it is unethical to mistreat it. How much does it have to have before mistreating it damages YOU! Think hard, if you're under 20, you will have to answer this question in a very definitive manner.

e-PETA just called, fairly soon they'll be outside picketing and throwing blood on you.

Is it not the best way to judge someone’s character by the way they treat people or things that they have power over? Do robots have more to fear from man than we do from them? If you program robots with the three laws of robotic must we also do the same with man? Maybe it is man’s destiny to both create and be over throw by robots?

You guys are monsters!

"The Passion of the Pleo"

Pleo forgives you.

Will PETR be the new PETA?
Thanks for the belly laugh.

Dá pena y todo el bicho...

Lo que más me sorprende es que sea capaz de sentir pena (yo) sabiendo que son circuitos y chips recubiertos de tela y espuma... dá que pensar.... acojonante!

Wow...this video makes me feel real sad.

Vendo esta "experiência",Isaac Asimov deve ter-se revirado no túmulo...

Vai ser um novo Tamagochi

If you don't understand what I'm saying,call me
here in São Paulo Brazil:jrvergotti@hotmail.com
I hope that we will enjoy a lot!!!

Okay.. this was disturbing... I am not sure what was worse tho'.. the first time you started abusing him, or the fact that one of you decided to show some of the attack in slow motion.. not once.. not twice...but MULTIPLE times!!!! And someone laughing in the background...lemme guess.. not raised with any animals eh?

As a wanter of a pleo -the price range is just too far out of my moth eaten check book- this just breaks my heart. I could care less about the trashing of an iphone to see how it works.. but attacking the little dino to see it's reactions is just horrid.

I realize that there are rotten kids out there.. but i cannot imagine any parent out there buying their bloody manic child a "toy" that is this expensive and technical. It's not a wii... it won't "do" a whole lot for the snot nose brat ... and unfortunatly unlike an animal- esp a dog or cat - Pleo won't bite the kid for abusing it.

*Sigh* If sci-fi doesn't want him any longer.. I would be happy to adopt him, even if his battery pack only goes for 1 hr... ::sniffle:: ::sniffle:: I have a happy electronics and dino friendly home that he would be happy to roam about with no fear of attack or abuse...::poor pleo.... wahhhhh::

“e-PETA just called, fairly soon they'll be outside picketing and throwing blood on you.”

Surely you mean oil. - Lucien

Actually this kind of behaviour towards robots really troubles me - but I am working on building real sentient machines. Self defence is a problem that has given me a lot of headaches, the answer isn't simple. At the end of the day "terrorism problems" are likely to push it more towards the Terminator than the A.I. type solution. - Owning a robot will probably be rather like owning a car or a chainsaw or a gun. I don't know about small robot dinosaurs though, maybe it should bite back. - Lucien

wow. that was really interesting. seems as if you guys had fun experimenting.
i enjoyed that.
pretty funny indeed.

Yes, the video made me laugh my a** off, but seriously it shows some of the limits for the toy. Knowing the limits may help people in deciding whether or not to get this as a gift and for whom to give it to.
If it has an expensive price they would know not to give it to the clumsy and destructive relative.
.
Peace, Yo! From:JJdaCool 12/16/07 11:10PM

this is why all those *sci-fi* movies we've seen of robots take over & kill humans...this is where it all started... ;o

Interesting through how the creators of Pleo put those kind of emotions into Pleo.

I assume ya'll had a kid when you were younger?...or at least for a week, that is until the dog ran away (escaped) lol :/

Now I know what is going to happen to all the foster children that have been abused and not adopted when they were little. They are going to grow up to be you guys! How cruel.

CAUTION! When I visited this site at a little after 10 AM on Tuesday, December 18th...my online security application warned me that it was trying to run an online server. Could be this site has been hacked.

As for the video...if you can't see it, it's not as impressive as the comments here lead one to believe. Not all that "violent"...not all that "funny." And there is no maniacal geek laughter--just a sheepish chuckle that's cut off after about a half second. Seriously...this video is getting way more attention than it deserves.

CAUTION! When I visited this site at a little after 10 AM on Tuesday, December 18th...my online security application warned me that it was trying to run an online server. Could be this site has been hacked.

I'm a mom who's bought a PLEO for her kids, and I came to see what all the fuss was about--and how much abuse a PLEO can take...but there's nothing to see here--move along, move along!

Truly, for those who can't see the video, it's not as impressive as the comments here lead one to believe. Not all that "violent"...not all that "funny." And there is no maniacal geek laughter--just a sheepish chuckle that's cut off after about a half second. Seriously...this video is getting way more attention than it deserves.

Pleo is like women, te more you emotionally abuse them, the more they love you.

hehe. better hope that they don't make a 'Pleo' Raptor that the one you hazed can communicate with. :)

Pleo, are you okay? HAHA

What the f*c*i*g hell is wrong with you? You F*c*k*u*s

what a deal - my dog will love this

You guys in in serious need of psyciatric help

Can I adopt your Pleo? I'm good with abused animals.

I have to admit that the making of this robot dino is almost realistic like the ones from disney's pirates of the carribean. Nice move and sound effects but a problem exist. Showing how to be cruel to our kids is ok. Either to other people or to animals. That is not very responsible. Even though your showing that its a toy and can claim that its just for your pleasure. Kids won't take it that way. They will think it is ok to be cruel and will find ways to be warped. Some may think that its going too far the other way when it comes to this toy, but kids won't think that way. Its a cute toy and a good idea but it should have been done differently. You've got the smarts and it shows but you need some work on morality.

This reminds me of when I threw my ferbie down the stairs... Two days of non-stop "Ferbie /hungwy/" "Ferbie /sweepy/" "Ferbie /sad/"- What about MY needs, huh? Sometimes "Ferbie /wuv/ you" just isn't enough! ...Let each and every flesh creature hope that noisy little beak of his can't tear through a garbage bag and 6 ft of dirt.

What about a stick or a hammer perhaps? can it scream?

You're sick. You know, children do this to animals and think it's funny, but it's exactly the kind of behavior that is an indicator for serial killers. I bet you'd do this to a child and laugh about how they'll be just fine tomorrow - you know, 'cause kids are resilliant! I can't wait to show this to your sponsors and see what they think; especially Toyota, who has a nice 30 second commercial opening this little number, and is participating in the Korean conferences on robo-ethics (they work with robotics groups like the one where I work developing personal robotics). I hope I can shut you down, you sick fuck!!! >:-(

I just want to say I have lost all respect for the sci-fi channel. I will never ever watch that channel again or have anything to do with it. You should be ashamed of yourself. If you can do this to that poor robot what do you do to your children you should be ashamed. I never in my life have seen grown ups act so immature. You lost my respect and im sure alot others. GROW UP

Hm, this has been the most enlightening/entertaining video I've seen in a long time. Anyone who is offended by this shouldn't have come to watch in the first place, you knew what you were getting into when you clicked the link. Besides, it's only a toy... Really, I think most sane humans know how to differentiate between toys and robots. If you think children will get bad vibes from this, don't show them. Violence is everywhere, eventually they will have to grow up and realize what kind of shit-hole the earth has become. You can't shield them forever.

Instead, use this video to determine if this is the right gift to get your child. Everyone knows that children are rough on their toys, think logically. These things also die by neglect, are you saying that anyone that buys little Pleo shouldn't unless they are going to prevent it from dying? Everything that has a beginning has an end.

Please, all of Pleo's cuteness is pre-programmed in. Therefore, it can not be stated that this treatment was unethical. It's a TOY. Pleo can not harm it's owner in any way, it has no emotion, and it feels nothing. If not activated, it could serve as a door stop, paperweight, etc.

Any viewers that were lost due to the actions performed in this video are meaningless. Many other viewers will gladly replace them. That is how television continues to survive. Get a life.

Ugobe says that it shouldn't be used by under 8s, so the test isn't really valid.

If DVICE readers are the kind of people who would be interested in buying the Pleo just buying these toys at 349 USD to torture them, why not just send me a cash in an envelope rather than wasting time.

Uh, nobody will pay you, they prefer to use their cash on what they want. Test is still valid because Pleo is aimed toward little kids. The makers would have had to run the same tests on it during development, all DVICE is doing is recreating what developers had to do to make sure it worked.

I'm gonna cry. I gave tech emotions and you do this to it? We'll see what happens hen my invincibility runs out.

I'm gonna cry. I offered my being to technology so that it would discover emotion as it has. We'll see what happens if my invincibility runs out.

You guys are so going to . . . hey . . . don't censor me!

Grow up everyone. If you're so civilised; act accordingly.

Good video, my kids will do it eventually (young animals do these things) but they sure won't be swearing like many of you are.

It's a well designed toy, no offense, I really like it, but it's no more intelligent than a plant at best and it's definitely not a lifeform....

Actually, if held upside down, Furbies will cry.
I think...I remember shaking one and doing something with it and discovering that when I was young.

hE's sO cUtE wHeN hE's cHoKiNg & DyInG!!

NEAT, WHAT KIND OF SOUND DO YOU GET IF YOU SWING IT IN A CIRCLE?DOES IT GET DRUNK AND STAGGER?

wow. funniest thing i've seen all month!

its a toy not a real living being. it has to be self aware, "i think therefore i am"

You guys ROCK! Thank you for giving myself and countless others a laugh. Since most of us couldn't spend that kind of money, but have wondered what would happen if.... we appreciate your humor.
Almost bought one of these for my granddaughter. The only thing that kept me from it was having to charge it for 4 hours for one hour of interactive play. That seems a bit high, dont you think?

Thanks Again