Petster's Home
About Petsters
Like the AG family, the Petsters were created by Axlon, Inc. in the mid-1980s. Petsters, dubbed the "Smart New Breed" by Axlon, were electronic pets who were, according to the Penguin Owner's Manual, frisky, obedient, attentive and always ready to play. Like AGs, Petsters live on batteries. The Penguin Petster manual says that solid state electronics allow long battery life between feedings.
According to Dr. Stan, who repairs both AGs and Petsters, Petsters were attempts to use the robotics and artificial intelligence technology of the time to simulate robotic pets. Petsters had good quality outer plush coverings that hid the electronics and mechanics from the person playing with the toy. Most were based on a two wheel platform with internal microphones that could sense sound and react in different ways to a sequence of sounds. Marianne, Dr. Stan's wife, provided us with the following from a catalog that featured these treasures:
You can view a full-sized and slower loading version of the catalog page by clicking on it. The catalog includes a Petster Cat, a Petster Hamster, a Petster Spider and a Petster Dog. We know there is a Penguin because we have one. Dr. Stan says there was also a green Godzilla dinosaur and a goldfish inside a large transparent ball.
Pengy, our Petster penguin, arrived with an Owner's Manual and Training Guide. You can see a picture of our favorite sections from it here.