i-Cybie

It was manufactured by Silverlit Toys Manufactory Ltd Hong Kong from 2000 to 2006. i-Cybie was developed for commercial distribution by Tiger Electronics.

i-Cybie uses five states or "moods" to determine autonomous behavior: happy, sad, sleepy, sick, and hyper.

I-Cybies were originally sold with a "dummy" cartridge inserted in a programming port on the robot's right side.

A fully programmable cartridge was included with the Silverlit Downloader and Walk Up Charger accessories which were sold separately (they were later bundled with the robot).

It can also be programmed with the Silverlit Downloader accessory to expand the robot's autonomous behavior with actions that are not part of i-Cybie's standard suite.

With a programmable cartridge inserted i-Cybie can sense its battery charge and if it is low, the robot will autonomously locate its charger and dock.

A group of dedicated modders and hackers provided unofficial support for i-Cybie during its early years on the market.

[2] An exploration of the functions allowed in YICT has revealed details about i-Cybie's programming logic and action categories that are not part of the general documentation.

In general, the hack involves soldering a communications port to traces near the main CPU and installing a boot loader (CROMINST) that has been pre-loaded on a programmable cartridge.

[12] The early prototypes looked very similar to Sony’s ERS-110 in appearance but were meant to compete at a significantly lower consumer price.

Tiger Electronics acquired the rights to distribute i-Cybie in 2000 and spent more than 2 million dollars to further develop the robot.

[12] A team of programmers led by Andy Filo reprogrammed i-Cybie to walk, interact, and to exhibit lifelike characteristics.

[12] Originally i-Cybies were sold with a plug-in charger, a remote, a rechargeable 12 volt nickel metal cadmium battery and a “dummy” cartridge.

Daniel Kehoe optested the pilot voice recognition software prior to that year’s holiday season, and approved for mass distribution.

[13] The i-Cybie robotic pet was set to be on the shelves in December 2000 in time for the seasonal increase in consumer spending.

[12] Soon after its debut consumers reported that an "error" in the original quick start manual instructed owners to charge the batteries ten hours.

Silverlit continued to support the robot and released new shell options, a Walk-Up Charger and Downloader as promised upgrades.

As of Spring 2014, Silverlit still offered support for the robot and carried the Walk Up Charger, Downloader and other accessories for i-Cybie at their international 3deshop website.

[6] Although some success was made in creating tools to manipulate the toy robot's software, lack of official support and development led the community to eventually disband.

[14] Natalie Jeremijenko's Feral Dogs Project teaches students ecology at the University of California San Diego using i-Cybies modified with pollution sensors to seek out chemicals.