By Dean Takahashi
Mercury News
When Caleb Chung has a big idea, the toy world pays attention. The co-inventor of the Furby doll created a sensation in 1998 that sold 40 million of the talking furry creatures.
Now at a Bay Area start-up, he is launching a new dinosaur robot for kids that he hopes will build upon his dream of creating lifelike, emotionally responsive mechanical animals.
Chung's new brainstorm is called Pleo and it will debut this fall. He is unveiling it today at the Demo conference in Scottsdale, Ariz., and has also taken the wraps off his Emeryville-based company, Ugobe, which is making Pleo.
``People are in love with robots, but the feedback we have is people need to have a more engaging relationship with their products,'' said Bob Christopher, chief executive of Ugobe. ``They want to treat something like a pet. So we need robots that show and feel emotion and that evolve over time.''
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