mech pets

[Seal]

according to a study (http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/dfw/news/news_to_use/13685841.htm?source=rss&channel=dfw_news_to_use) (linked on slashdot (http://slashdot.org/)) mechanical pets are almost as effective as normal pets as stress relievers.

the baby seal (http://paro.jp/english/index.html) one is quite lovely, actually.

[GenocideAlive]

I'd imagine they're a hell of a better than normal pets. They have an off switch and they're stunted in the cutest phase of their growth. They don't shit on things and they don't chew on things either. The next step is robotic babies.

[GrimTerror]

But babies would actually cause more stress if anything. Its an advance in stress relief, nothing else.

[Aqo]

A damn robot that roams around my house, secretly taking pictures of it and sending to the company which made it, will never be a good replacement for my cute cat.

[GrimTerror]

Aqo is right, nothing beats the real thing. Spike would kick the ass of any robot anyway and Rocky would dance on it's scrap metal corpse:P

A nice alternative for the pets you couldn't normally have though...Like a Hedgehog! I REALLY want a hedgehog!

[BlackHawk]

I think it's a great idea for those with allergies to animals but still want one (or their family wants one); however, I'd have to say nothing beats the real thing.

[pixels]

and i could smash it into tiny pieces if i wanted to and not have to have someone come to my house and say 'hey you there, what the fuck'.

[The_Maker]

Meh, for the price of a real one you get something that with cuddle with you, talk with you, intereact with you, and lots of the good stuff. The mechanical kind just walk around, bark, wag their tails, meow, and turn their heads. Real ones can jump, run, go on walks, mechs could never dream to do such things.

The Real Thing > A Mech

[EvilEggCracker]

MEch pets are really cool. I have to agree with GA, they have all the cool qualities of a pet and none of the shitty ones. Unfortunatly their expense and lack of intelligence stops me from buying one...

[GrimTerror]

Don't they already have mech pets? And like sell them as toys?

[Seal]

ya. in japan. AIBO comes to mind.

[Aqo]

I bet AIBO can't track-down flying roaches from the celling, lip-attack them, get them on the groud, vanish, intercept, backstab, use a Tiger Strike and Dragon Claw combo, let off a fist attack, and use a finishing move to kill it, all in less than 10 seconds, like my cat did a few moments ago.

Well, maybe I was too descriptive with Diablo II and WoW terms, but you get the idea...

[Aquarian]

Aw...The baby seal is soo cute ^_^

But it can become boring after awhile,as it does not do different things everytime.And it doesn't poop the place.Where's the trill of having a real pet?!

[Darmago]

furby comes to mind...

Personally I want a pet Uziel...

[Aqo]

Now here ya have a real MECH PET:

http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/267/deves00013wm.jpg

I call it the Devastator. Isn't it cute?

[GrimTerror]

Not really...well compared to Spike anyway!

Mech pets lack the certain spark (emotion) that real animals do though. Whenever i walk into me bedroom, Spikey will swim along and swim right into the side of the tank. Maybe because he's glad to see me? Maybe because Rocky was getting on his nerves? Maybe because he's a fatass and thinks i've got food for him? Who knows? (I would hope it would be the first one:P)

If a mech pet comes up to you, it only does so because it's programmed to. The lack of crap, noise and maintenance of a Mech pet is not enough to match up to the raw emotion of real animals!!

Do you think they will come up with AE as well as AI?

[KexMex]

I command Seal to get a mechanic seal.

Uh, I mean, I suggest that she does. :P

[GenocideAlive]

Not really...well compared to Spike anyway!

Mech pets lack the certain spark (emotion) that real animals do though. Whenever i walk into me bedroom, Spikey will swim along and swim right into the side of the tank. Maybe because he's glad to see me? Maybe because Rocky was getting on his nerves? Maybe because he's a fatass and thinks i've got food for him? Who knows? (I would hope it would be the first one:P)
Uh, I'm fairly certain that fish don't have any emotions to speak of. So...comparing mechanical pets to your fish is an exercise in futility that you may not want to go with. Your fish sees you and assumes he's going to get fed. Just like if I bang on the counter before I feed my fish, whenever someone drops something on the counter, they start getting excited. And yes, I've actually performed that experiment before. Before some lady killed all my fucking fish when she was supposed to babysit them. Bitch.

[GrimTerror]

For your information Genocide, Spike is my pet Red-eared Terrapin. Not a fish.

[GenocideAlive]

For your information Genocide, Spike is my pet Red-eared Terrapin. Not a fish.
FYI, Grim, it basically changes nothing.

[GrimTerror]

Doesn't it? Having worked in a pet shop for work experience and having owned Terrapins for a good 3 years now i think it's pretty safe for me to say that Terrapins respond to the prescence of humans in a different manner than fish.

[Neo]

I think the use for these type of pets are more for helping people who would otherwise not be able to care for a real pet (or for that matter care for themselves).

-Neo

[Darmago]

The mech pets should become malicious when not fed....

think gremlins but only if you dont feed them enough... and feeding would stop them... but they only "eat" the plastic spoon and dog food that came with the kit.

[Demon_Child]

I'd imagine they're a hell of a better than normal pets. They have an off switch and they're stunted in the cutest phase of their growth. They don't shit on things and they don't chew on things either. The next step is robotic babies.

You a a bit behind the times with the mechanical babies since they have been doing that sort of thing in High Schools for a long time now in teaching the (mainly female) students about how to handle a newborn child with all the attention that is required to take care of it.

[Tassado]

Mech pets, are for people who don't want living things near them. They'll probably only be toys for people, not real pets. I think in the future though mech pets could replace real pets by imitating every aspect of the animal except it's needs for food and take away all the hassles like cleaning and other maintenance.
On the other hand, I'd like a pet that can give me affection and since there's no robotic pet that can do that, I'll stick to the cat.

[Leosam096]

the thing about the real pets is that they were made as pets so they could be taken care of and so we can build our responsibilities to a higher level.and an example of these is picking up their droppings which is so uncool and washing their furry(or hairless) yet soft(or hard) bodies...

unlike mechanical pets,its sort of another different view when you're taking care of them.you give that mechanical dog an iron bone to play with and help dust its little mechanical mass behind or place them in water and see if they're learning how to swim or just see if they love diving under the water.oh those bundle of joys.

cheers.