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By PAMELA DAVIS © St. Petersburg Times, published December 4, 2000
Once upon a time in a land far, far away, a big and powerful company invented a robot dog. The company, called Sony, named its pooch Aibo. The 11-inch metallic mutt went for walks, wagged its tail and performed tricks. Its owner didn't have to follow it around with a pooper scooper or tell it to get off the couch. Aibo was cute and lovable, and nobody had ever seen anything like it before. Aibo was the talk of every town, so Sony made 3,000 of them to sell in its land, called Japan. Aibos cost $2,066, and lots of people paid the price. Then Sony began selling them in another land, called the United States. It cost $2,500 to buy an Aibo there.
Soon there were so many robotic doggies that it was hard to tell them all apart. Toy stores in the U.S. looked like dog pounds, except the dogs were in shrink-wrapped boxes instead of kennels. Parents stood in line the day after their big feast to buy them for their little ones. To combat these copycats, Sony said: Enough! We will make a new dog, and he will do new stuff! The second-generation Aibo had a lower price. Only $1,500; isn't that nice? It knows 50 words, and when you strike a pose it takes photos with a camera hiding in its nose. The mechanical dog is here to stay, at least until a brand new fad comes our way. Because it's fake, the dog will live happily ever after. It will bring us entertainment. It will bring us laughter. The end. * * * Poo-Chi, Techno, Rocket, Mega-Byte . . . who let them out? These robo-pooches are continuing the craze that began last year with the introduction of Aibo. Because most of the dogs are advertised on TV and have received lots of media attention, they are hot this year. The new versions are more affordable than the Sony dog, though Fisher-Price's Rocket the Wonder Dog for preschoolers sells for $100. Still, the variety of dogs means a variety of prices. But did there have to be so many? "What happens is everybody sees a hot area and wants to jump into it," says Jim Silver, publisher of Toy Wishes magazine and the industry trade publication Toy Book. "Are there probably too many dogs out there? Yes. This always happens when something becomes hot. Look how many scooters are out there."
"Tiger did anticipate the significant number of competitors that jumped on the bandwagon in the robotics dog market," said Tiger's vice president of marketing Jeff Jones. "Consumers are very sophisticated about technology. We do our best to meet or exceed the expectations of an intelligent marketplace." Tiger's Poo-Chi ($30) came out this spring. It can sit, dance on its tiptoes and -- like Tiger's last hit toy, Furby -- can communicate with other Poo-Chis. Poo-Chi was followed this fall by a larger version, Super Poo-Chi ($50) which has extensive animation and voice recognition. But, plans for an advanced, $130 dog called I-Cybie were put on hold until next year because of the computer chip shortage. Tiger's Meow-Chi ($25), a robotic cat, is also available.
Trendmasters is also selling a cyber lizard called Muy Loco ($30). Another lovable-looking dog is Fisher-Price's Rocket the Wonder Dog ($100). The dog responds only to its owner's commands. Children imprint their voice by speaking into the Personal Puppy Trainer headset. Wow-Wee Inc.'s Mega-Byte the Hound Droid ($25) is not nearly as cute as some of the other robotic dog offerings; it has a 1950s futuristic look and feel. Specially positioned motion detectors set off a guard dog function to alert its master of intruders. Unlike all the other toy dogs, MGA Entertainment's Me & My Shadow ($60) looks like a real dog and has a fake fur covering. Like some of the other dogs, Me & My Shadow is a voice-recognition puppy and responds to 10 verbal commands. The most visible of all the robotic dogs is Manley Toy Quest's Tekno ($40). It's for sale everywhere from Walgreens to FAO Schwarz and is the star of a tug-at-the-heartstrings JCPenney holiday commercial. Tekno, which has been available since summer, "looks high-tech but is also cute," said Manley Toy Quest spokeswoman Allyson Serino. "Some of the other ones look very robotic like or cutesy and geared toward preschoolers." The stout Tekno has 160 emotions and functions, including walking, sleeping, snoring, eating and barking. "People love their pets, and it's a neat concept to be able to have this robotic pet that's similar to the real thing," Serino said. Unlike the real thing, Tekno comes with a set of five playing cards and learns to play tricks with them. Coming soon from Manley Toy Quest is Kitty the Tekno Kitten ($40) and next year, Polly the Tekno Parrot. Toy watchers have given the robotic dogs mixed reviews. Some say each company's dog has creative features that allow kids to participate in numerous play patterns. "What's significant about the robotic dogs is if you really sit down and play with them, you realize how different they really are," says Chris Byrne, a contributing editor to Toy Wishes and the Toy Book. "I think they're all really fun. It depends on what the kid wants to do with it." But Maria Weiskott, editor-in-chief of the toy trade publication Playthings, asks, "These things are great, but is a kid going to take it to sleep at night?" True, the dogs don't need to be walked or fed, "But you buy this toy and it does the same thing over and over. You wonder if you're getting the same bang for your buck as you would (with) a Lego set which goes on and on and only ends with the imagination," Weiskott says. Joanne Oppenheim, who has been publishing the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio for eight years, didn't include any robotic dogs on her current list of the best toys. "They are very complex," Oppenheim says of the robotic dogs. "It isn't that they're bad, they're just difficult."
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
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