Slashdot Mirror
Robot Family in Every Home?
cswilly writes: "Yahoo has a story that Sony wants to see a robot animal in every home. I was wondering if Sony has a total cost of ownership argument for these things? Let's see, $2500 for a robot dog + $100 in electricity oven ten years. A real dog costs, say $1/day to feed, lives ten years for $3650 on food, plus $1000 in vet bills. The robot wins hands down." But keeping it in Mom's Robot Oil isn't cheap either...
If I sold flower pots, I'd want one in every home. Preferrably 10. That's a stupid statement on Sony's part, really. Anyone who sells anything wants lots of them everywhere. It's called "selling product to make money". Sheeh.
--jcwren
I got two kittens a couple of weeks ago. I'm already out $500 in vet bills, food, cat toys, litter, etc., etc., etc.
I think my vet gets more per hour than my internist. And no insurance hassles.
Of course, he'll probably pick up robot repair as a sideline if this actually comes off.
InstaPundit! Ahead of the Curve Since 30 Minutes Ago
Who would be so emotionally bankrupt?
Sony would.
Remember, it's big corps like that that bring us DRM, CRPM, DMCA, soon the SSSCA, and other things which are morally bankrupt (indeed often downright evil). Why on earth wouldn't you expect them to be emotionally bankrupt?
People often form a bond with their pets. This bond can be highly individual and have great emotional depth. Therefore, it is bad for the economy. Thinking, independent individuals are hard for marketing departments to profile. What we need are consumers. Robot dogs can be targeted at consumers, just like prepackaged megacorp entertainment "content". If you are thinking for yourself, you're hurting the economy, and harming the business of the megacorps, so stop it right now.
Only commies, intellectual property pirates (like library patrons), and dangerous anti-american open source software users would want a real pet when one could have a Market Approved robot pet!! (Warning: reverse engineering or modifying your Robot Pet is a violation of the DMCA, and an un-American thing to do. Rest assured that you will be protected from the dangers of such violaters as they spend 5 years in prison and pay $250,000 in fines.)
-Rob
There are countless dogs and other perfectly good pets waiting to be 'put to sleep' in Humane Societies all over the country and around the world. Go get the real thing. The Sony bot is just going to wind up turned off in a corner and eventually in a landfill.
I'm really surprised at all the slashdotter's who are getting their panties in a bunch over this! Seriously guys, I highly doubt he intended this to be a "hate" statement of any kind. He's simply making a point of conformity vs. individualism.
;-)
If anything, the only real crime here is posting a statement like this after the 1960's.
8==8 Bones 8==8
The robot dog will be the equivalent of 1984 telescreens for Big Brother.
Sony would be the perfect company to do this since they are a major consumer electronics manufacturer, but also have an interest in protecting their copyrights on both audio and video recordings. None of the other major intellectual property giants have the capability to get a dog installed into every home.
IANAL, but now that the idea has been mentioned in public, is it too late to patent?
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
We're straying into science fiction here, but I don't think a pet that lives forever is really a good thing to give children. They have to learn that things die sooner or later, and better that this come as the death of a pet when they're 6 than the death of a friend or relative when they're 30.
real dogs are cute and warm. robot dogs are cold and look robotic. The basic thing is I *can't* love a robot dog the same way I love my dog at home. Yeah, real dogs maybe harder to train, they might need to be housebroken, but so are human babies. We all complain how hard it is to raise kids, but do we even think about replacing them with robotic counterparts? I guess a robotic dog could work as a viable "man's best friend" for someone. But, real dogs all the way for me.
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