I’m always trying to convince friends — at least those friends feeling guilty about not walking their dogs enough — to trade up to a mechanized pet.

Like this hatchling dinosaur, Pleo.

Daniel Engber in a recent Slate magazine article liked Pleo best of the available “Animoid” alternatives.

I’m 32 years old, I’m not married, and my dogological clock is ticking. For almost a decade now, I’ve been an armchair pet owner, studying breed lists and taking Web quizzes on what kind of puppy to adopt. Then, during a recent bout of anxiety over my impending menopaws, I volunteered to dog-sit for a friend.

It turns out that a real, live dog is nearly as demanding as a human baby—except a dog never learns to pour its own bowl of cereal. According to my dog-sitting instructions, I was to provide the animal with two meals every day plus three promenades around the block. (Happily, I was spared the unenviable task of brushing her teeth.) Forget drinks after work. Forget that film screening. Forget dinners out. Heck, forget even going into the office.

And so I became aware of my membership in a sad demographic that includes shiftless magazine editors, small children, and senior citizens. We’re the sorry lot that adores animals but is too lazy, uncoordinated, or infirm to take care of them. …

Slate – Rrrrrrrobots!The search for the ideal animatronic pet.

Watch a Slate V video comparing all the robo-pets in action.