A Dinosaur With a Future?

Ugobe is courting fans and encouraging their creativity in ways that Sony did not. Sony actively tried to shut out hackers, for example, threatening to sue an Aibo fan who figured out how to reprogram his robotic dog and make it dance. Ugobe, by contrast, is planning to release a software kit that will allow owners to easily create new Pleo behaviors.

To get things rolling, the company has created a couple of software programs for the Pleo. One has the Pleo barking out holiday songs. Another puts the robot in "watchdog" mode, where it barks and growls in response to any noise or motion.

Ugobe has other robotic "companions" in the works. They're not necessarily dinosaurs, said the company's chief technology officer John Sosoka, though he wouldn't elaborate on what species the company is turning to next for inspiration.

"I loved 'Blade Runner' when I was younger," Sosoka said. "This is the tiniest little step in that direction."

My wife and stepson instantly adored the Pleo; my 7-year-old stepson quickly dubbed him Rex. As in, "Can Rex sleep in bed with me?" "Can we keep Rex?"

Most, but not all, people who encountered Rex over the last week or so also seemed to quickly fall in love the thing.

I wondered whether my dog would meet the Pleo, which does not require early morning trips to the back yard, and vaguely grasp her looming obsolescence. But she had no interest in the Pleo at all from the start.

A few days later, I'm a little underwhelmed with the Pleo, too.

Cute? Oh, yes. But the Pleo doesn't come when he's called, and he doesn't quite have the brains to chase after the plastic leaf that you're supposed to periodically "feed" to him. The whirring of his 14 internal motors and gears is just loud enough to remind you that this isn't flesh and blood.

Rex could get a lot smarter, I think, and eventually do a better job of blurring the line between robot and critter.

Most of my gadgets get smarter on a regular basis, thanks to the magic of downloadable software updates. Ugobe plans to release a big update for the Pleo's software early next year, and I get the feeling that a lot more of the Pleo's capabilities will be come to the surface then. (Or perhaps that's when the robot endgame will kick in . . .)

But no, we can't keep him. Rex will be getting back into a box soon and heading home to California. I'll miss him ever so slightly, but not as much as I'd miss the iPhone, the Wii, the high-definition TV, the satellite radio player, USB thumb drives, my Gmail account or my car's seat warmers.

"As cool as it is and will be," admits Townend, "I really do like my cats better."

Hopefully, when the robots take over the Earth, they'll overlook that last crack.