From: ABlainey@aol.com
Date: Fri Dec 14 2001 - 17:38:46 MST
Today we had a family outing, the dreaded Christmas shopping trip. ;o(
For several weeks now my Wife and I have been discussing whether to get a
Robot Dog , as a sort of silly present for ourselves. We were drawn to the
I-Cybie from tiger toys due to the recently "highly reduced" price. £80 down
from £180.
Today we made the purchase and a very weird thing happened.
Before, we were talking about "That would be good, dont have to walk it,
clean up after it" etc etc. Today going to the checkout and right up untill
my wife went to bed a couple of hours ago, I have only seen her this excited
at the birth of our children. !
Its like we just brought home another child. Unfortunately this child
needs a 10 hour battery charge before you can start to play with it. but to
my amasement, My wife asked me to GET HER OUT OF BED ! when the battery is
ready so she can see "little D'fer" wake up. D'fer as in D For Dog, if you
missed that one.
To be honest I cant say that the excitement is all on her part, I am
also very excited, despite not expecting very much from what is in all
reality "a not very smart autonomous'ish piece of plastic".
In the shop we were not the only ones buying one of these techno
pooches. Another couple were trying to convince us that the purchase was for
their son, I wasn't convinced. His name and age seemed to change during the
coversation.
If this is the kind of psycological responce the general public has to
Robots in the home, I seems all we need to do is make them cute and people
will love them like a real pet or member of the family.
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