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Teach An Old Aibo New Tricks

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the sit-up-and-beg-for-batteries dept.

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."

2 of 198 comments (clear)

  1. Removing barrier to sales by mughi · · Score: 4, Informative

    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.

  2. Re:$1000 for a dog? by mughi · · Score: 4, Informative

    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. :-)