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Teach An Old Aibo New Tricks
dipfan writes "After expending much energy trying to stop hackers from tinkering with its Aibo robot dog, Sony has finally realised it's not worth the effort and has decided to start giving away a 'non-commercial' developers kit. The kit is called OPEN-R SDK, which allows Aibo be programmed in C++, as part of Sony's efforts to promote its (so-called) OPEN-R architecture for robotic entertainment. Anyway, the really neat thing is that you can reprogram your Aibo to meow."
Good.
Unfortunately, I don't have enough free cash to get one of these puppies. :-( However I have at least one coworker who returned his when he found out how limited they were ( and the lack of SDK ) at the time.
I hope this nod to the hackers out there is seen as a good means to motivate sales, even if only a few avail themselves of the opportunity. Between this and the PS2 Linux kit, Sony is at least starting to become a more hacker-friendly company.
Hacking hardware == good for sales.
That text is crying for a link to a news story about their efforts to stop the "hackers."
Here's a good one.
The Web is like Usenet, but
the elephants are untrained.
Well... yes. Perhaps.
Unfortunately, our dog had a neck infection (year and a half ago) and just that alone ended up totallying close to $1000. Adopting a real dog is usually a very good thing, and even has nice health benefits for the owner.
However, it's a true commitment. Unlike they Aibo, you can't just take out the batteries and leave a dog on the shelf. Just consider well before getting a live animal.
For some, an Aibo would be better. And for some both work. Just watching a dog deal with an RC car can be fun enough. :-)
AiboPet has Bender and Cartman, so Triumph is possible. Cartman is currently only available for the 310 series, but it's just a preview.
What if the Hokey-Pokey really is what it's all about?
> ... that I found in January when I was researching this for a professor:
> Site Gutted by Sony based on DMCA
I'm not sure where you found it, but that is significantly out of date.
You will see aibopet.com and aibohack.com are running with lots of new content
Some minor comments:
> AIBO Uses Copy-Protection on its Memory Sticks
> My Take:
> While it would probably be trivial to overcome > Sony's copy-protection algorithms, it's not > > worth the bother. $35 for a PMS (Programmable > Memory Stick) is money well spent...
Actually it is a rather secure copy-protection mechanism.
Back doors that were left open in the first AIBO 210 release have been closed. Copy protection is important to Sony.
You are correct in that most AIBO owners will just buy the memory sticks (since they can afford $1000+ toys)
> Japan-Only AiboWare Releases
> Sony released several pieces of AiboWare that are only available in Japan.
Some of it is junk (IMHO), but some of it is good. Some software teaches your AIBO to play cards. Others are just more active or imaginative personalities.
Since AIBO understands voice commands, the Japanese sticks must be translated to understand English.
> More-or-less Complete 210 Hardware Reference
The problem is not the CPU, but all the custom peripherals.
> First of all, the Aibo is programmed in something called "R-Code", part of the "Open-R" standard.
Actually RCODE is a script-like language that YOU can use to program your AIBO.
Most of Aibo's brain is written in C++.
> Only one program, Sony [sony.com]'s Master Studio [aibo.com], is capable of producing R-Code through anything other than editing the R-Code directly.
Check out AbNet (http://www.dogsbodynet.com/aibnet.html) if interested in writing your own RCODE. There are tools to make RCODE easier to write (and more like C/C++)