Pleo Saved From Battery-Death Extinction

Ugobe's friendly little robot dinosaur, Pleo, seems to have had a brush with extinction.  Original plans to fit a non-user-replaceable rechargeable battery – which would last a few years but then, like laptop cells, refuse to hold a charge – have been scrapped in the face of public concern that their prehistoric buddy would meet an untimely end.  Ugobe have also released images of the Pleo packaging:

Images courtesy of Ugobe, Inc.

I have to admit, I'm quite interested to see Pleo; launch date is still uncertain, but Ugobe are saying it's very near:

"The photos on the box are nearly life size and are designed to convey the wonderful range of expression and organic movement of which Pleo is capable. I also want to relate the very latest news: based on feedback from you, the community, Pleo's battery will be both rechargeable and replaceable.
The process has been a challenging one but we are getting really close to bringing Pleo to market." Caleb Chung, Ugobe Inc.

Since the demise of Aibo, the consumer intelligent-robot market has looked upsettingly bare; we'll not have long to wait to see if Pleo is a suitable replacement.

Sneak Peek at Pleo's Packaging [RobotsRule]