Robot animals just can't buy a break. Pleo, the fun robot dinosaur that wants to be your friend, died today when its maker, Ugobe, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. First Aibo, now this. We've been following Pleo's development since we first heard about it way back in January 2006, all the way to our aptly described "torture test" from two Christmases ago.

Despite selling 100,000 Pleo robots last year, Ugobe (co-founded by Furby designer Caleb Chung) couldn't survive, dooming all those existing Pleos to a sad, lonely existence — the last of their kind.

The Pleo Era will certainly be studied by gadgetologists for years to come, though. See our decidedly not-in-the-manual evaluation of Pleo here, as well as Vanessa Rae's full review here, where the little guy met Suki the dog. Simpler times…

Idaho Statesman, via Gizmodo