Canon PowerShot G9
ƒ/2.8
7.4 mm
1/8
200

Most customers will probably never notice what happens if you get a bunch of PLEOs together at a party.

I noticed a certain fondness they take to each other, stroking their tails under another over and over… provoking a look back over the shoulder and then a bump n’ grind of the rear end.

With a cluster, they went into a bizarre love diamond.

(To make sure I was not projecting too much, I asked the senior engineer if I was witnessing some Easter Egg in the code, and he smiled a confirmation that his brood was real randy in groups).

16 responses to “Tickle Me Pleo”

  1. angry shock Avatar
    angry shock

    jeez, really deserves a video…

    -Tickle tickle… mussel muscle

    yaarrr!

    Reply
  2. angry shock Avatar
    angry shock

    oh, btw, this randy tail circle reminded me of Matisse’s Dance:

    Reply
  3. ` ®© ROBERTO CARBONI Avatar
    ` ®© ROBERTO CARBONI

    Awesome Excellent shot,congrats

    Reply
  4. TomiTapio Avatar
    TomiTapio

    Ha! (if not get_attention then wander_around), pretty effective.

    Reply
  5. Erik Charlton Avatar
    Erik Charlton

    Steve— The tags are too funny. Nice job.

    Reply
  6. biotron Avatar
    biotron

    immediately i am reminded of the reversing bison (which close in around the body of Gary Gilmore who has been rodeo-ridden to death on a Brahma bull, on the Salt Lake flats…) from Matthew Barney’s "Cremaster 2" – part of the visually staggering Cremaster Cycle – and their counterpart in the reversing cars in the foyer of the Chrysler building, from the demolition derby sequence of Cremaster 3.

    Reply
  7. christophercarfi Avatar
    christophercarfi

    steve, i had a great chat with caleb chung about a year ago, when they were just getting ready to really bring pleo to market. he was talking quite a bit about both the (a) sensor capabilities and (b) the ability of a pleo to learn new behaviors and react to its environment. i asked him the loaded question:

    "will they flock?"

    he gave a big smile and said that (at that time) they were noticing emergent behavior where they would line up nose-to-nose, but also in that diamond formation. he stated it was because the (IR?) sensors were in the nose, and if they grouped themselves in a circle they could all "see" each other, so they could "learn" what skills the others had. (with the behavior you saw, i wonder if the sensor placement is now different, but the emergent behavior is similar.)

    after we talked about the flocking behavior, the next thing he said blew me away.

    "and, after they circle up, they choose an Alpha."

    mr. decker, your future awaits…

    Reply
  8. biotron Avatar
    biotron

    great little tidbit there, christopher… the really shocking thing is that some PLEOs have been spotted smoking post-coital woodbines in the Maker Faire toilets.

    56.25% of the (possibly negatively-orientated) members of a particular forum claim they "have seen no evidence of pleo exhibiting learning capability."

    can anyone with a better understanding of the software and memory involved offer up a clear, concise and impartial analysis of why – in the specific case of PLEO, as opposed to opening a vast can of AI worms – we should equate a) emergent behaviour based upon certain parameters written into the code and b) behavioural intelligence?

    how many "easter eggs" are there? (rhetorical question, basically…)

    any thoughts much appreciated, thanks…

    Reply
  9. benjiman Avatar
    benjiman

    Beware the inevitable Pleo King phenomenon…

    Reply
  10. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    ACk! That mummified rat king image just freaks me out.. It looks like a mole rat king… and they can chew through concrete… Imagine an angry buzzsaw bound by the bum…

    @biotron et christophercarfi: some great questions there… In any case, robotic emergence should provide plenty of fun and folly.

    @Alieness: Ah yes, Matisse knew that with five members, the square breaks into a ring. Fine lessons in the geometry of love polygons…

    Reply
  11. angry shock Avatar
    angry shock

    Nice! (that about geometry… not the Rat king, i mean… =( )

    biotron… do you imply something like: "(robotic) emergence is in the eye of the beholder"? Because I do believe that… that’s why the concept of emergence as such makes a loud crack in my head. I cannot understand how can be treated as a (objective) phenomenon in nature in itself separated from the cognitive act that supports its "recognition" as some sort of special order (or a (dis)order / formation of a higher level of complexity than the (dis)order / formation in which it takes place) out of randomness. If I understand correctly what emergence means so far (or is this conundrum a part of the learning process… ?)

    Reply
  12. christophercarfi Avatar
    christophercarfi

    @biotron – want to be clear that the comment above wasn’t intended to attempt to equate emergent behavior and behavioral intelligence. was more commenting that the emergent diamond pattern was an interesting and unexpected emergent phenomenon of the interactions of the code, a la TTTJ or gliders

    Reply
  13. Johnson Cameraface Avatar
    Johnson Cameraface

    Thanks for posting this, I’ve not seen a PLEO before, let alone a group. Interesting stuff 🙂

    Reply
  14. _kimmg_ Avatar
    _kimmg_

    Hi, I’m an admin for a group called Colour Mania [Invitational], and we’d love to have this added to the group!


    You are invited to join Colour Mania
    [Invitation Only]

    From the Colour Mania group

    Reply
  15. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    P.S.. it starts with some tickling.. and some simple AI romance emerges…

    ai cover

    and then the Robopocalypse…

    Reply
  16. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    And this just in: "Brain Scans Show Humans Empathize With Robots" from IEEE Spectrum

    40 participants watched videos of a small dinosaur-shaped robot that was treated in an affectionate or a violent way and measured their level of physiological arousal…

    Reply

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