ToyBots CEO Shervin Pishevar, fresh off his TechCrunch50 debut, apparently wasn’t too pleased with my post yesterday calling him and his company out for not dreaming big enough. My chief complaint – that ToyBots should be building the next multi-billion dollar superhit toy, not messing around with an unproven platform solution that no one may ultimately use, but that many may ultimately copy.
So he stopped by today to tell me that ToyBots will indeed build their own toy or toys, and to show me his super double secret stealth prototype – a very lifelike dog-type thing, only smaller. And it’s certainly cuter than this scary thing. Pishevar says of the device: “We’ll be bigger than Facebook.”
The video is below:
make sure to watch to the very end.
only video is sometimes unplayable. some slides of video can be posted with blogpost.
stupid. grow up peter pan.
Oh cmon Mike. You’re TECHCRUNCH and you have a flat screen on the wall with WIRES EXPOSED?
You disappoint me. Drill some holes in the wall, dude! Don’t you have flunkies that can do that for you?
Or are you only a software guy – don’t do hardware?
When you say watch to the very end, you mean the company right? To the very end when they go into the deadpool. Will do.
You really like these guys. I do too, simply because it’s cool tech with mass appeal.
This prototype however appears to have gone to the dogs.
Is that a prototype or it is a real dog? I am confuse. Seem like he is holding a real dog
its a real dog prototype.
Michael does it make you sad how stupid your readers are sometimes?
You know… it actually had me going there at first!
It was cute though.
Love it.
Kudos to whoever had the idea
I know, right? If he can only get the price down to less than $1 million per unit, I think he’s got a big winner on his hands.
Is that really a piece of electronics? Crazy.
totally crazy.
Oh my God. It really electronic???
no. it’s a really novel organic design. Units can actually replicate without ToyBots involvement if the right types are put in proximity to each other. The bow is synthetic though. I think.
Michael is fooling you all. This is a real electronic dog. Awsome!
Quite.
But the interesting thing would be for him to do a JV with one of the independent character development, production and licensing and merchandising firms like HIT or Chorion using one of their existing characters. The existing relationships and distribution would give him a leg up on their own toy, and give the independents a leg up on the majors. Much lower risk for him with the potential to hit it out of the park as you originally suggested.
Four legs good, two legs bad…
umm…
With the toy, not the dog.
yep. i’m with you. solid recovery.
Augmented reality with the toy and a webcam/mobile camera could also make applications quite sticky (no pun intended).
I see a chance for another aftermarket start-up. Creating much smaller, nano robots. The bots could be attached to the ToyBot and maybe jump around of the dog unit.
roflol
Fleabots?
My prediction for ToyBots, they will either make it very big or fail woefully, no middle ground. What they are doing is game changing and will require people to change behaviour. The risk is proportional to the reward.
I would not recommend they make their own Toys cos you do not want to be seen as a competition to those you are to partner with. e.g Mattel.
They should instead work to power the next barbie doll. Once they make their toy they will loose the co operation of other toy makers.
I wish them the best!
This video is super creepy without audio (at work)
Something about facial hair on a toy company CEO doesn’t look right. Looks kinda creepy.
Ok, I guess everyone here are just having fun and that’s a real puppy?
Humour and modesty go a long way
I think this is genius – why you said you want to focus on the software is beyond me. Shervin, if you are reading this, you are on the right track with your physical prototype. The TC50 presentation was good but the simplicity of this redefines boundaries, and your electrodog would have helped you beat whatever plumber finding tool won the award.
Whoever thinks this is creepy doesn’t understand those who would like to own a pet but are averse to being responsible for another life. I can only imagine the (decent) possibilities with some of the other toys out there. Good luck man.
oh he’ll definitely be reading this.
Just read it! -Shervin
Shervin,
You are as big a nut job as you always were. That was hilarious. Nice of you to play the foil Michael.
Watch out folks, Shervin was revolutionary before revolutionary was acceptable. His WebOS was brilliant and WAY before its time. Never underestimate him. Its all about timing and partnerships and if anyone can do it, he can.
Brad
Well played sir. I still want one.
lol – i want one
I’m actually having trouble discerning whether this is the ultimate version of sarcasm, or if thats actually an animatronic dog. I’m pretty sure its sarcasm, but hell I don’t even know anymore.
I’d go with your gut on this one.
lol. Thats a damn shame. Would be amazing to have all of the fun and none of the mess with a puppy =p
Lifetime batteries! Nice one.
the catch is, of course, they are “lifetime”.
no mAH reading, no battery health measurements, and yes, a not very reliable mean time between failure data. …
I guess that’s their preemptive strike against “This toy will never replace my dog.”
Hahhaa, that was NOT a REAL puppy! Even Laguna could feel it. The guy just made fun of you MA!
you got me.
He got me too, at first
This would have been awesome for next April Fools.
The puppy was cool, but I’m surprised he didn’t focus more on the fembot he used to carry the puppy out with in the end.
The big dog must be a beta version. You could totally see the wires!
Yeah, i put fur on my aibo too… so what, anyone can do that. I don’t need new platforms, but I could do with the more realistic fur he has developed.
So Techcrunch decides to pull off a joke!
Make me a pit bull model and I’m sold! I mean seriously what am I gonna do with a tea cup yorkie, start attending tea parties in a ball gown?
will it blend?
well, it processes. takes about a day.
Disgusting! But you did make me laugh
You are sick.
This is the most fun I’ve had reading comments all year.
Will it blend, bah hahahaha.
duh, you were supposed to get even with Facebook, not us.
… is that you dogs puppy?
totally. my 105 pound chocolate lab had a 1.3 pound baby yorkshire terrier. so weird. you should see the dad.
yeah, I know shit about dogs. just asking lol
This had my wife and I laughing. Very cute dog.
On another note, if Toybots does things right I don’t think they their success will come in the next year. I think they could possibly help define a space for toys that will inevitably blossom in the not so distant future (3-5 years). Everything becoming “connected”. Refrigerators, TV’s, Cars, etc. Why not toys? I don’t think it is a question of IF connected toys like this will become popular for children, but WHEN.
Mike, I agree with you that Toybots should be looking into building their own toy, but I met the guys at TC50 and I think developing a platform for other companies is a great move. Maybe build the toys directly for the big brands.
On thing that the guy at the ToyBots booth mentioned to me was the possibility of an app store providing developer produced applications for the toys. I would love to see how that would go.
going the platform route is definitely the safe choice.
i say they go platform.
hahaha! it is a full-on fraud! you had us there for a while though!
i did?
It does everything a real dog would do! like, literally, it does every single thing a real dog would do.
Wow, amazing how it looked flatline and then became life-like.
So Lifelike! I think PetSmart will be calling just to keep this off the market. No housebreaking, training, pooh scooper, dog food, chewy, cleaners, training manuals, pet sweaters, no groomers! Holy cow, Cut down on Apt pet deposits too!
yep. amazing.
did anyone notice the humanoid prototype with toybot at the last of the video ?
Yea I could totally see a puppy being held by a humanoid robot prototype!
It’s so far-fetched and unbelievable that I’m sitting here thinking “it has to be real, make it real, please it must be” because of how awesome it is.
and yet is is just a puppy.
cutest puppy. take the stupid bow off its head though.
i like the bit with the video
I’m sure the puppy is real, but they guy holding it, that’s the humanoid robot there!
Want.
I’m overawed, scared and excited.
me too. let’s jump up and down for a while?
And its not april fools day yet.
Had me going haha!
Thanks for the laugh!
Do they have the ability to clone/replicate with another prototype? If they had this feature available then potentially everyone could earn millions?!? Great video and cute puppy
next up, iPoop?
Mike, TechCrunch commentators are reaching YouTube-esque IQ levels. What do you think about that?
It makes me cringe.
Interesting to see how that battery lifetime guarantee stands up in say 12 years from now, looks like ToyBots will have a big legal case on their hands.
If this a pedigree canobot, then you’re looking at about 7 years. If Mike’s dog has sired it, well, we could be looking at 15, given it will have a more mixed genetic hardboard.
Law suit aside, congrats to Shervin, family and team, it’s a great concept.
Ha!
Now don’t sell out to Pets ‘R’ Us for 170M
ps – Or should it be Toys ‘R” Us?
who is the beautiful dog handler we see at the end?
if you ever stop playing wow and end up going outside, send me your details and i will intro
eh. yes, time to go outside. after my morning tea.
i’d guess it’s shervin’s daughter (?), backpack and all, which might make some the tc readership feel a little creepy
The “dog walker” is Shervin’s lovely wife. Lol, that was funny.
This thing is deep in the uncanny valley- it’s so lifelike that it freaks me out a bit.
WOW, Michael, that was hilarious. Well, at least ToyBots’ CEO has sense of humor. Good for him.
omg TC has uncovered the real Skynet!
The prototype is obviously flawed. The movement is way too robotic and the materials used are obviously cheap imitations. The bow used to cover up the battery latch was clever but still, Shervin better get his act together or Arrington’s next post on this is going to be about sending this “dog” to the deadpool.
Way to go genius. Nothing gets past you.
One of the above two posts had sarcasm…
He had me at “This will actually grow”
did you know that the head designers for toybot’s prototype, are a husband and wife team called fido and lassie, and apparently they just suddenly had the urge to create it.
Stealth??
Cute, Michael. But that kind of advancement (or close to it) is in what’s in order if you really want this to take off the way we all dream it could.
Teddy Ruxpin with a modem and an API slapped on isn’t going to cut it.
OK, the dog is great.
But, why can’t the company’s web site have a form that works? Radio buttons work, fields for text don’t. But, the submit button works?
Maybe it’s a game and I just haven’t figured out how to win? But, it would be nice to be able to contact the Company about partnership and licensing.