Dyno-might

If you recently attended the Kickstart event, held at Boise State a few weeks ago, you had the opportunity to meet one of Idaho’s most fascinating entrepreneurs / inventors / technologists / toymaker / mimes. Caleb Chung, inventor of the Furby, isn’t a mime anymore (at least not professionally) but he is in the process of bringing to market one of the most fascinating products I think I’ve seen in a long time. Pleo is the flagship product of Caleb’s new venture Ugobe. Pleo is a baby dinosaur “toy” that responds to touch, responds to sounds, takes a nap when its tired, and will even limp if played its played with in the wrong way. Those are just a few of things Pleo can do.

What makes Pleo so fascinating to me is the inspiration behind its creation and the extraordinary combination of technology that made it possible. Caleb will tell you that his far flung career path; one that has included performing as a mime, playing a gorilla character in a children’s show and designing toys, is in fact all related through various aspects of play. Another thread common to all of these is the importance of connecting with people at a emotional level. That’s what the Furby did by mimicking very basic expressions and reacting to sounds. The Furby was just the first step in Calebs march towards creating a toy that can interact with people at an emotional level. Pleo is the next extraordinary step towards Caleb’s vision of a toy that takes on lifelike, almost human characteristics and moves closer to being a pet.

The technology that makes Pleo possible is amazing. Pleo includes sensors, motors, processors, a camera and life-like feeling skin. It also has an open software architecture that will allow owners to program different behaviors and then share them with other Pleo owners. What Caleb does very will is educate himself on a wide variety of technologies and then determine which will enable his vision. By being aware of what types of batteries, plastics, sensors, etc. are available and at what cost, Caleb can expand his universe of what is possible.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Pleo at the top of the list of hot toys this holiday season, it’s just that cool. I also can’t wait to see what Caleb has up his sleeve for his next product, which by the way, will likely be developed right here in?É‚Äö?Ǭ† Boise Idaho.

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