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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."
... can I reprogram it to clean my dorm room? Obviously my roomate never will... but maybe something more intelligent like a robot dog could manage it...
The Internet, one place where if you're not right, someone else will set you straight... maybe.
More corporations to be open about their products.. and allow us to ..ahem.. make better.
www.slightlycrewed.com - Because aren't we all?
You raise a good point. Can you teach an Aibo to moof, like a dogcow?
Is an Aibo humping someone's leg.
They stab it with their steely knives,
But they just can't kill the beast.
If this, in combination with affectual computing, could make a pet that knows when you've had a bad day and bring you your slippers.
Moderation: Put your hand inside the puppet head!
Somebody *MUST* program one.
Expect a new TV show about Battle-Aibots...
Must be fun to watch them doing tricks..
Return the bells of Balangiga.
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.
Dear Bill:
I think Sony has a great idea here. Why don't we open the source for Clippy?
Your friend,
Steve
Lego set a great example, and received the rewards of respecting the community that buys/programs their product. Sony was scared, but they've learned. Good. Maybe more can.
...nope, Lego didn't purchase Sony. (Hey, there's a cool hack. Program the Aibo to in turn program a Mindstorm set to build a doghouse out of itself.) Thank you, Sony. We appreciate it.
- If we aren't supposed to eat animals, then why are they made out of meat? - Steven Wright
If I wanted to hear something meow, I'd have somebody call my cell phone.
Assimilated Press (2002) - ROBOT OWNERS beware. Hackers recently started infiltrating Sony's Aibo robot dogs and have reprogrammed them to be fight dogs. In the latest incident, a 14 year old child was attacked and mangled by his pet robot.
Yoshi Yanamura, speaking on conditions of anynomity said "this is the reason we didn't want anyone reprogramming the robots. This was totally expected. Good thing we didn't include the 10 MegaJule laser add-on, then we would really have problems".
Sony Corporation says the best way to protect yourself is to not recharge the robots after you have been attacked.
---
If I only had a brain...
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.
> the really neat thing is that you can reprogram your Aibo to meow.
And, like, what if c-a-t really spelled "dog"? Whoa...
(Bonus points to anyone who gets that obscure Revenge of the Nerds II reference.)
[PowerPoint] is a tool for capitalist presentation
Yeah, but I wonder what/who convinced Sony? They looked to me like they were on the same road to pig-headed, "we know what you need better than you do" attitude that the rest of the entertainment & music establishments exhibit.
/. and similar, thru negative feedback, had a positive effect on the Sony way?
Is it possible that
I am admittedly geeky, that's why I hang out here; but it seemed pretty obvious to me from the beginning that alienating an entire consumer sub-culture would be bad for business. Especially when members of that sub-culture are more likely to be able to afford a pricy toy like Aibo.
All in all, I'm glad they've opened it up some. Now, if I can just convince my wife to let me buy an expensive toy dog...
It was amusing to see some of the new behaviors programmed by students in an effort to make the Aibos play better soccer. While the Aibo plays lousy soccer (due to extremely limited memory and a design focus on "cuteness" instead of efficiency), they are absolutely fun to watch.
-- http://www.MarkWelch.com/ Pleasanton California
If Sony puts in three axes of accelerometer and three axes of rate gyro (which is quite feasible, and not too expensive by Aibo standards), along with current/torque sensing from the motors, real legged locomotion control would be possible. Right now, they're locked into a basic position-control model, which is why Aibo motion looks so mechanical. It's a beautiful piece of machinery, but it lacks the sensors to do the job right.
Now someone can make it say "... For me to Poop On!" after everything it does.
Need Free Juniper/NetScreen Support? JuniperForum
I saw the "Open-R archicture" and thought for a moment they were going for a play on Scooby Doo's voice. Heh.
Say hello to zMac.
Instead, you could go to your local humane society and get a REAL dog for well under $100, and the remaining $900 would be more than enough for at least a couple years' food and vet check-ups. They're more fun, too, and programmable!
Sig (appended to the end of comments you post, 120 chars)
One of my favorite pictures that I've seen in recent memory was from this past January's National Geographic, in an article about the evolution of dogs from wolves: a wolf, a dog, and an Aibo hanging out. From the page:
Facing the Future
Even with its battery removed, an Aibo robot got the full attention of Koda the wolf and Simon the Maltese during a studio shoot. Koda, a trained captive-born wolf, had worked with Simon but not with the robot. At first he moved away from the motionless Aibo, says photographer Robert Clark. Then, curious, he sniffed it and chewed off a plastic ear. Doug Seus, Koda's owner and trainer, says that while dogs can easily form new relationships after they are about six months old, wolves are genetically programmed not to accept strangers. "It's a built-in survival technique to limit the size of the pack." Confronted with the unknown, wolves are either extremely timid or extremely aggressive, he says. "They may look like a big dog, but they are psychologically different."
I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate.
I think the differnce is that the PS2 linux kit includes a bunch of hardware (HD, keyboard, etc). Can't really make it available for download...
"Prefiero morir de pie que vivir siempre arrodillado!"
..you can't teach an old dog new tricks ;)
It was interesting to hear some of the comments about the Aibo from ppl close to Sony at last years GDCE. Masaya Matsuura mentioned that some of the people around the design department got extremely upset with some of the things that the Aibo was made to do.
"In Matsuura's office they had an Aibo for the employees to care for and play with. The Aibo is attracted to the color pink--he has a pink ball that he will walk up to and kick or butt with his head. To test the programming of Aibo, one of Matsuura's programmers tied a pink ball to a wire, attached to Aibo, dangling in front of his face. Of course, Aibo kept on walking forward, never stopping. A female employee was upset at this "torturing" of Aibo and sent a memo to Matsuura, causing an investigation as to why the robot dog was tortured and if others were upset by this."
It's C++ now, but I am sure they will adapt other languages soon...
//S/#?$$/../!{*&?[->]};
VisualBasic: Look how easy, I just drag the 'Bone' object over the 'Mouth' Object! Unfortunately, with the run-time, I can't fit any other code in there.
C#: It will go get the paper, but only if you first verify the subscription status.
Perl: Look, I can make it jump, bark, and fetch with this one line:
The government's moral compass is controlled by GPS.
In times of crises, they alter it to suit their needs.
The Cybie "robot" dog toy is 100 times cheaper and there is enough room inside it to place a dimmpc inside giving it a ton more processing power and memory/storage. My dimmpc devel board fit's along with the CF card adapter (get out the dremel and make a CF card slot to save even more space) I saw somewhere on the net (abio hacking site I believe) that had a project mapping out the motor control systems.
the Abio is neat, but it needs more processing power... but at it's price tag it is too expensive to gut like a cybie.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Anyone interested in an Open Robotics system PLEASE ignore this SONY-BS and have a look at this: Open PINO platform
Hacking hardware == good for sales.
This is similar to how Harley-Davidson sells motorcycles: they encourage aftermarket hacking, so much so that they provide (overpriced) parts in the accessories catalog...
This, of course, doesn't count the scores of yuppie/image riders, but even they slap on a bit of aftermarket chrome.
Now it's going to start crapping batteries on my neighbor's lawn. Take that!
I pledge allegiance to the flag...
of the Corporate States of America...
Once the aibo linux distro comes out, there will be no stopping these crazy dog programmers.
Forget cyber beastiality pr0n... what about taking apart the Aibo, and putting the moving components into a RealDoll?
You could program (her/it) to do strange and wonderful things...
Whoever stated that signature sizes should be limited to one hundred and twenty characters can just go ahead and kiss my
Somebody set me up the unclosed italics. Appears to be linked to "OS X (Apple)" stories, but no promises. Oh, lite mode.
Karma: Good (despite my invention of the Karma: sig)
14. Send and get data using Wireless LAN (TCP/IP)
Am I the only one who noticed this? I wonder how long it'll take for some ambitious hacker to make a portable webserver, a firewall that barks, or in a more malicious context, an adorable little password cracker that does tricks for the sysadmin while it's downloading sensitive data?
I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate.
Call it a pack. Wulf, dog. get it?
Look its running Linux. Its running. ha ha
*expects to be modded down to -5 troll*
God spoke to me
Sony almost has a clue now:
Step 1: Make cool hardware
Step 2: Open up the architecture and some/all software
Step 3: PROFIT.
It worked for Apple in 1979... we're slowly coming full circle.
I have a Sony DVD changer at home. The unit looks nice and all, but the software absolutely SUCKS MONKEY NUTS. The UI is slower than molasses, it took me two days to enter all my titles, and it sometimes forgets them or just gets confused about which disc is where. Most of the buttons on the remote don't work as expected - it's a mess. I will never buy another piece of home AV equipment from them again. That changer was an utter piece of shit, and it was entirely due to bad software. What could they possibly have to lose by opening the firmware?
Except for video games, it seems that Japan Inc. simply doesn't get it (or doesn't care) when it comes to software. Keep making the great hardware, but let the folks who know best hack on the software.
Give me a programmable Teddy from the movie A.I. He seems more useful than a robot dog. OK given the fact that his visual and speech recognition capabilities aren't real (commercially anyway). But I'd still take a fuzzy, unassuming bear that people will think is just a stuffed toy and have him suddent sit/stand up and start walking around and looking at people. That would be fun as hell.
"More organs means more human." - Zim
Call me when they come up with robotic domo-kuns that I can get to chase my kitty around.
You don't need the SDK to swap out the motors and components of the Abio, although you might want to modify the operating code a bit so that the upgraded Abio doesn't accidently crush someone with it's more powerful motors...
How long before someone equips an Abio with better feet, armor, camera, and a shotgun, and sells it as an all-terrain bomb-disarming robot?
Need I say more?
What's in a Sig?
Alternative way to make your Aibo meow is to toss it in the freezer for a while and then run it through the circle saw....MEEEEOOWWWWWWWwwww
My Take:
This site is great. I think this is exactly what we need. The only thing that really got removed per the story referenced below is "virgin" copies of Aibo-Life, because everything you could possibly want, and more, is available, including "RCodePlus", which appears to be a utility for writing and transferring RCode ("Plus" some aibohack.com extensions) to your Aibo.
Summary:
http://www.aibohack.com had much of its content removed because it built on Sony's AiboWare, but added new features.
Among its programs:
AiboScope: Wirelessly transmits images from robot's camera to a computer
Disco Aibo: Execute a programmable dance when Aibo hears a certain song.
Brainbo: Uses voice-recognition. When Aibo hears a phrase, Aibo selects an appropriate response and "says" it.
Source: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-000086726nov01
http://www.latimes.com/search/lat_all.jsp?Query=A
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, and if all the code consists of is bootstrapping into the WLAN, we'd only need one for each 'bot.
Summary:
Sony makes red/pink memory sticks specifically for the Aibo. They contain copy-protection code that means that you can't copy their programs from one stick to another (unless, of course, the second one already had that program installed).
Source: http://www.aibohack.com/123/format.htm
My Take:
Nothing new here.
Summary:
Sony released several pieces of AiboWare that are only available in Japan. Based on what a friend of mine could manage to decode, there's nothing here to pique our interest.
Source: http://www.yk.rim.or.jp/~hkora11/aibo_2nd-g/kAibo
My Take:
Note that the 200Mhz (!) CPU uses the MIPS IV instruction set, for which there are no shortage of compilers. We may be in luck yet! (Of course, we might have to replace the current flash ROM with a custom one to develop that luck, but based on other readings, there seems to be very little code in the flash ROM and a heck of a lot of JPEGs of the development team.) You want to read this page.
Source: http://www.aibohack.com/210/hardware.htm
My Take:
An excellent tool, but not very applicable to our particular challenge. Nonetheless, a useful resource of which to be aware.
Summary:
Basically, Brain Surgery allows users to view and edit the data Aibo "feels". What does this mean? You can abuse your Aibo, and fix it yourself--no Sony required.
Source: http://www.aibohack.com/2or3/browser.htm
Now, some explanations are in order.
First of all, the Aibo is programmed in something called "R-Code", part of the "Open-R" standard. The odd thing about this is that Open-R gets licensed to other companies for a fee, and the documentation is not available. Not so sure where the "Open" came from. At any rate, R-Code is a poor imitation of assembly language that is interpreted in real time by the Aibo. Only one program, Sony's Master Studio, is capable of producing R-Code through anything other than editing the R-Code directly.
One of the interesting things about Sony's marketing strategy is that they intended changes you made to the Aibo to be well-nigh permanent. The idea was to get people to send in their Aibos if they didn't take proper care of the little beasties, charge an exorbitant fee for resetting them to the "newborn" state, and send them back. It apparently surprised Sony quite a bit that, when they released Aibo in the U.S., people started clamoring for a tool to allow them to do these resets themselves. It apparently surprised them even more that U.S. consumers wanted a way to bypass the entire, carefully-scripted AiboLife evolution and go straight to an Aibo adult.
In general, U.S. owners wanted to hack their Aibos, Japanese owners wanted to watch their Aibos grow.
On another terribly-interesting note: Brain Surgery allows you to see the internal phonemes for the name you gave your Aibo. This has come in handy at least once when I was trying to determine how I was saying a command incorrectly.
Jouster
He was doing satire. That's where you take a salient point about a person or thing and make fun of it.
.NET, which Microsoft advertises heavily with web services.
A 'salient point' about VB is the ads and promotional material that describe how easy it is to create an application using drag and drop. A 'salient point' about C# is that it only compiles to
A one liner joke should not be criticised for not covering the whole issue.
"I will trust Google to 'do no evil' until the founders no longer run it." Hello Alphabet.