AI Poo-Chi

A photo of AI Poo-Chi sitting

AI Poo-Chi (AIプーチ) was an unreleased version of Poo-Chi that was showcased at the Tokyo Toyfair by SEGA Toys in 2000. It was developed in a joint project with the Massachusetts Institution of Technology (MIT), and it was planned to have been released in October that year for 5980 yen.

Note: Keep in mind that Super Poo-Chi was not present at this event. AI Poo-Chi and Super Poo-Chi have a VERY similar appearance and their interactive features (being able to name it and give voice commands) are the same. They both have the same type of outcomes once they have fully matured, too. While no official sources confirm it, since it has so much in common with Super Poo-Chi, I believe AI Poo-Chi is a prototype version of Super Poo-Chi.

Appearance

AI Poo-Chi giving paw AI Poo-Chi lying down

AI Poo-Chi is only known to have been made in a color scheme with gray and its main color (legs, body, muzzle, and head) and green as its secondary color (leg caps, tail, and ears). The shape of the tail's end is similar to the original Poo-Chi's tail end.

Functionality

AI Poo-Chi has voice recognition and makes use of its AI function to "mature" as you play with it and award it with praise when it correctly obeys your commands. It will respond to commands in Japanese, such as "hand" ("お手" or "o-te" in romaji) and "lie down" ("ふせ" or "fuse" in romaji), and depending on how the owner treats AI Poo-Chi, their robot dog will mature into either of the three levels:

A Yet-To-Be-Added Button

While the prototype pictured on this page doesn't have a button, according to ASCII.jp's article, AI Poo-Chi was to eventually be equipped with a button, allowing you to register its name, so if you call your AI Poo-Chi by its name, it would respond.

Super Poo-Chi, which was released, has two buttons which are used to change the play modes for Super Poo-Chi and for letting him know if he has correctly obeyed a command during training sessions. Instead, registering Super Poo-Chi's name would require you to tell your Poo-Chi its name.

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