Poo-Chi (or Poochi, Poochie), one of the first generations of robopet toys, is a

robot dog Robotic dogs are quadrupedal robots designed to resemble dogs in appearance and behaviour. As of 2024, various military applications have been seen. Commercial and research Quadruped Boston Dynamics * BigDog, quadruped robot created by Bosto ...

Tiger Toys Tiger Electronics Ltd. (also known as Tiger and Tiger Toys) is an American toy manufacturer best known for its handheld electronic games, the Furby, the Talkboy, Giga Pets, the 2-XL robot, and audio games such as ''Brain Warp'' and the Brain ...

. Poo-Chi was released in 2000 and discontinued in 2002.

History

Sega Toys' Poo-Chi hit markets on 1 April 2000, with

Hasbro Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment holding company founded on December 6, 1923 by Henry, Hillel and Herma ...

Tiger Electronics Tiger Electronics Ltd. (also known as Tiger and Tiger Toys) is an American toy manufacturer best known for its handheld electronic games, the Furby, the Talkboy, Giga Pets, the 2-XL robot, and audio games such as '' Brain Warp'' and the ...

distributing the toy in all countries other than

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

and

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

, both of which had the toy distributed directly from Sega Toys instead. Retailing at a price of 3,980 yen (then the equivalent of US$38) in Japan and $24.99 in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Despite being made for a young child owner instead of older children 8 and up like AIBO, Poo-Chi offered significantly cheaper competition to the

AIBO AIBO (stylized as aibo, abbreviated as Artificial Intelligence RoBOt, homonymous with , "pal" or "partner" in Japanese) is a series of robotic dogs designed and manufactured by Sony. Sony announced a prototype Aibo in mid-1998, and the first co ...

's prices of up to 250,000 yen (then US$2,400). At the time, Hasbro's sales in their leading

Furby Furby is an American electronic robotic toy by Tiger Electronics. Originally released in 1998, it resembles a hamster or owl-like creature and went through a period of being a " must-have" toy following its holiday season launch. Over 40 mill ...

line were slowing since its initial release in 1998 and sales of

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...

branded merchandise was in decline. The Poo-Chi's release was a success, selling over 10 million units worldwide over the span of 8 months since its initial debut. Special editions of the Poo-Chi soon sprouted, such as the ''

102 Dalmatians ''102 Dalmatians'' is a 2000 American crime comedy film produced by Walt Disney Pictures and distributed by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution. Directed by Kevin Lima from a screenplay by Kristen Buckley, Brian Regan, Bob Tzudiker and N ...

'' holiday release of three Poo-Chis resembling the characters Domino, Little Dipper, and Oddball. In addition to special editions, an upgraded version, the Super Poo-Chi, and differing

breed A breed is a specific group of breedable domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist seve ...

s of the Poo-Chi were released (all of which could communicate together), along with spin-offs such as the Meow-Chi and the Chirpy-Chi. Miniature versions were featured as toys in the

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese ch ...

Happy Meal A Happy Meal is a kids' meal usually sold at the American fast food Chain store#Restaurant chain, restaurant chain McDonald's since June 1979. A small toy or book is included with the food, both of which are usually contained in a red cardboard b ...

. Poo-Chi stopped selling in 2002, having been replaced by

FurReal Friends FurReal Friends (later furReal in 2017) is a toy brand division of Hasbro and formerly of Tiger Electronics and Dreamright Toys created in 2002 focusing on robotic pets. FurReal toys widely vary in style and size, depicting different domestica ...

Description

The original Poo-Chi had a gray body with ears, tail, and leg joints of either purple, blue, pink or green colour. With four legs allowing the toy to stand up or lie down, it utilized a red

LED A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits light when current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of photons. The color of the light (corresp ...

display as eyes to show

emotion Emotions are physical and mental states brought on by neurophysiology, neurophysiological changes, variously associated with thoughts, feelings, behavior, behavioral responses, and a degree of pleasure or suffering, displeasure. There is ...

Special Editions

The Christmas Special Edition Poo-Chi was offered for a limited time, coloured in red and white with snowflake designs throughout the body, ears, with an interactive bone included in its seasonal box. The toy had its list of songs updated to include Christmas music. The Christmas Special Edition was only available in a handful of countries and retailed for 2–3 months, making it the rarest and most collectible of the genre with collectors. Boxed sets sell on the second hand market for up to US$300.

Speech

Poo-Chi spoke using prerecorded sounds such as barks, whines, and growls. Due to limitations of the toy's technology, most of the sounds were rendered as beeps rather than a realistic sound effect. Poo-Chi could also "bark" songs, which could be prompted by pressing the button on the top of its head.

Spin-offs

Multiple spin-offs of the Poo-Chi were produced. All were based on different animals, other than the Super Poo-Chi, a larger version of the original toy. * Meow-Chi - a robotic

cat The cat (''Felis catus''), also referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is a small domesticated carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species of the family Felidae. Advances in archaeology and genetics have shown that the ...

. * Super Poo-Chi - a larger version of the original toy. * Dino-Chi - a robotic

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic Geological period, period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the #Evolutio ...

, with two types produced: the Dino-Chi T. Rex and the Dino-Chi

Pterodactyl Pterosaurs are an extinct clade of flying reptiles in the order Pterosauria. They existed during most of the Mesozoic: from the Late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous (228 million to 66 million years ago). Pterosaurs are the earlie ...

. * Chirpy-Chi - a robotic

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

. * Petal-Chi - a robotic

flower Flowers, also known as blooms and blossoms, are the reproductive structures of flowering plants ( angiosperms). Typically, they are structured in four circular levels, called whorls, around the end of a stalk. These whorls include: calyx, m ...

plant Plants are the eukaryotes that form the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae; they are predominantly Photosynthesis, photosynthetic. This means that they obtain their energy from sunlight, using chloroplasts derived from endosymbiosis with c ...

. * Robo-Baby - a robotic

baby In common terminology, a baby is the very young offspring of adult human beings, while infant (from the Latin word ''infans'', meaning 'baby' or 'child') is a formal or specialised synonym. The terms may also be used to refer to Juvenile (orga ...

. * Botster - a regular robot. * Walking Poo-Chi - a walking version of the Poo-Chi.

Songs

The Poo-Chi could "sing" one of 6 songs when following the light sensor in its nose being activated, the touch sensor on its head was pressed. The toy would then emit a series of high-pitched beeps. The user could afterwards press the touch sensor, the number of times the sensor having been pressed corresponding to a different tune. The different songs the Poo-Chi could play are as follows: Poo-Chi would often sing "

Ode to Joy "Ode to Joy" ( ) is an ode written in the summer of 1785 by the German poet, playwright, and historian Friedrich Schiller. It was published the following year in the Thalia (German magazine), German magazine ''Thalia''. In 1808, a slightly revi ...

" by

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

when happy, and if another Poo-Chi or Robo-Chi pet was nearby (such as a Meow-Chi), that other Robo-Chi would begin to sing "Ode to Joy" as well, though the playback would not be synchronized.

References

External links

Poo-Chi instruction manual
{{Robotic dogs Hasbro products Virtual pets 2000 robots 2000s toys Robotic dogs Entertainment robots Robots of the United States Toy animals