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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."

18 of 198 comments (clear)

  1. Yeah but... by Wonko+the+Sane+42 · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... 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.
    1. Re:Yeah but... by xkenny13 · · Score: 4, Funny
      • .. can I reprogram it to clean my dorm room?
      I think the more likely possibility is geeks programming it to steal bikini tops at the beach.

      Yup, I think I saw that in a movie once...

  2. Re:moof by pythas · · Score: 4, Funny

    You raise a good point. Can you teach an Aibo to moof, like a dogcow?

  3. What I want to see... by owlmeat · · Score: 5, Funny

    Is an Aibo humping someone's leg.

    --
    They stab it with their steely knives,

    But they just can't kill the beast.

  4. 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.

  5. Teaching characters new tricks by Devlin-du-GEnie · · Score: 5, Funny

    Dear Bill:

    I think Sony has a great idea here. Why don't we open the source for Clippy?

    Your friend,

    Steve

    1. Re:Teaching characters new tricks by shawnmelliott · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Here you go. Close enough
      '''
      'Excel instance
      Dim xCel As Excel.Application
      'Our Assistant
      Dim Assist As Office.Assistant

      'Create a background instance of Excel
      Set xCel = New Excel.Application
      'Make certain it's not visible
      xCel.Visible = False
      'Load our assistant
      Set Assist = xCel.Assistant

      'Now show the assistant
      With Assist

      .Animation = msoAnimationGetAttentionMajor
      .Visible = True

      With .NewBalloon
      .Heading = "Hello..."
      .Text = "...What's an Aibo dog like you doing in a bar like this?"
      .Labels(1).Text = """" & "Getting Reprogrammed... Get lost creep!" & """"
      .Labels(2).Text = """" & "Looking for a Warez copy of OfficeXP so I don't have to " & _
      "deal with office scoundrel like you!" & """"
      .Mode = msoModeModal
      .Button = msoButtonSetNone

      call .Show

      End With

      end with

      'Cleanup
      set assist = nothing
      set xlcel = nothing

  6. Wait a minute... by Guido69 · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...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
  7. *meow* by mosch · · Score: 4, Funny

    If I wanted to hear something meow, I'd have somebody call my cell phone.

  8. I can just see the headlines... by thrillbert · · Score: 5, Funny

    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...

  9. Programming Aibo - wasn't this already enabled? by markwelch · · Score: 5, Interesting
    When I attended the RoboCup 2001 competition in Seattle, the students had reprogrammed new behaviors and movements into their Aibos -- with Sony's blessing. My never-quite-finished report on the event, with links to photos and AVIs, is at:
    http://www.robot-news.com/robocup_2001_images/
    I was told that the Aibos and the programming stations (used by the college teams competing in the Aibo competition) were not regular retail devices, but clearly Sony was endorsing the notion of reprogramming Aibo, at least by experts-in-training. (Sony was a major sponsor of the event.)

    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
  10. sweet.... by austad · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now someone can make it say "... For me to Poop On!" after everything it does.

    --
    Need Free Juniper/NetScreen Support? JuniperForum
  11. Aibo in context by daeley · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.
  12. What about other languages? by plexxer · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's C++ now, but I am sure they will adapt other languages soon...

    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: //S/#?$$/../!{*&?[->]};

    --
    The government's moral compass is controlled by GPS.
    In times of crises, they alter it to suit their needs.
    1. Re:What about other languages? by kirkb · · Score: 4, Funny

      Java - Pet owners rejoice at the possibility of a dog that will do its own "garbage collection".

      Lisp - Dog can't do much, but is great at running around in circles chasing its tail.

      COBOL - Dog will only fetch business-related newspapers. Preferably issues from 1978.

      --
      Slashdot: come for the pedantry, stay for the condescension.
  13. Open != Sony by SubtleNuance · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Anyone interested in an Open Robotics system PLEASE ignore this SONY-BS and have a look at this: Open PINO platform

  14. 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. :-)

  15. Imagine a BeoWulf cluster of these by CrazyJim0 · · Score: 4, Funny

    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