New AIBO - Meet the ERS-7

ejtttje writes "Sony announced today (also here) the ERS-7, the third generation of the AIBO. New specifications include more computational power, improved sensors, and, last but not least, built-in 802.11b WiFi standard! Additional information from the Japanese Flash promo includes this flash video. (8MB, mirror - sorry, no mpg). Sony will also be releasing a new version of the OPEN-R SDK to continue support of third party AIBO developers. (self plug ;) Pre-orders start October 10, and ship early November, for $1599 (in the US)."

Comments

Wifi...this could be fun

[Gibble]

The next reality show...
"Hack the neighbors AIBO"

ESR-7

[Gzip Christ]

I thought for a second that the headline said that the ESR is the new Aibo. Then came the dreams of a massive, self-replicating army of robotic ESRs descending on a certain company in Utah. Then I realized that I am dyslexic. Oh well.

Obvious Consequence

[tunabomber]

Enter the new hacker sport of WarRoboDogWalking.

Think of the possibilities!

[Prince_Ali]

New specifications include more computational power, improved sensors, and, last but not least, built-in 802.11b WiFi standard!

Finally an intelligent wireless access point that can move itself around the house!

Add robot kids

[danormsby]

One of these, some robots kids and my family is complete.

The coolest peripheral...

[Mr. Darl McBride]

The coolest peripheral is one that I'm not sure they'll be showing. They were demonstrating the new Aibo at a small Sony developer gathering the month before last. The gentleman who was doing the demonstration had a tiny remote control with two joysticks and an array of buttons.

If you're like me, you've got an Aibo who does all kinds of cool shit, but only when nobody else is around. When ten people are circling the Aibo and cooing and ahing, the sensors get all confused and he just sits and yaps like he thinks he's blocked. With the remote, he was able to turn off the eyes momentarily, as well as putting the thing in a no-reaction mode where he could just reposition the thing and restart whichever react mode it was in.

If I could get my hands on one of these, I could impress friends more easily, and they'd probably sell a dozen times as many!

Re:The coolest peripheral...

[Mr. Darl McBride]

I got mine on ebay for less than 1/6th of the new price.

Every time the new models are released, you find a ton of people selling their old ones. Watch for it -- so many hit at the same time, that they go for peanuts.

Good luck, kind sir.

pink bone ?

[maharg]

AIBO's clever new behaviour has been rewarded with a new toy, the 'AIBONE'. In the form of a pink bone, AIBO can, for the first time ever, pick it up in it's mouth.

I suppose it can lick it's balls too, just like the real thing !

Be sure to change those WEP keys..

[Anonymous Coward]

Be sure to change your WEP keys regularly (You are running at least 128-bit WEP, changing it weekly, right?).. You wouldn't want someone spying on you with that built-in camera..

I can see it now

[orpheus2000]

"Someone hacked my dog from the internet and made it piss all over the bed"

Mmmm, wardriving just got more interesting.

What exactly is the point of an Aibo?

[Wonderkid]

It doesn't do anything at all useful. If people want a pet, far better to own a real animal that will teach the owner about responsibility and patience - after all, you cannot turn a puppy off. The type of robot that IS useful is the Roomba (spelling?) that vacuums the floor and from reviews, appears to do a good job too. Anyway, I'm a pussy man.

Re:What exactly is the point of an Aibo?

[pubjames]

What exactly is the point of an Aibo?

Well, at the moment, there isn't much point, other than entertainment.

But I think it represents increadible long term thinking on the part of Sony. They are getting experience in developing and marketing domestic robots. There must be $$$ of R&D going into this, and I expect that Sony isn't making a profit on it. But all the functionality that's going into Aibo - I bet within ten years Sony will be able to create a human size human robot that can perform simple actions from voice commands - i.e. "pick that newspaper up off the coffee table and bring it to me". There might not be much of a market for Aibo at the moment, but imagine the market for a robot that can do that -- great for older people and the handicapped, as well of a million other uses we'll probably only think of once domestic robots are commonplace.

When this type of domestic robot is possible, Sony is going to be years ahead of any other company in the technical development, manufacture and marketing of them. Respect to Sony.

A penny for...

[pjcreath]

The ERS-7 can understand nearly 180 voice commands

Including "give me back my $1599"?

IMHO

[mbrod]

Wow 7 completely different acronyms in one story post. Not bad.

Obivous?

[kurosawdust]

The model with built-in firearms is, of course, the ESR-7...

I don't like my aibo

[peterpi]

Hello.

I have (well, my team at work has...) and aibo ERS-220, and it really is a heap of shit. This is not a troll; I really do have one, and it really is shit.

We were expecting it to do cool stuff, but it just wonders round the room bumping into stuff. After a while it sits down and plays a little song. After doing this a few times it runs out of battery and dies.

That's it. Biggest waste of two thousand pounds ever. Now the new one's come out we'll be lucky to get four hundred for it on eBay.

I'm done now (:

Jetsons

[metalligoth]

Did anyone else feel like they were watching the Jetsons when they saw that flash video? Some of this stuff is so cool, I think for a second, "Nah, that can only happen in the future, like after the year 2001 or something.... Oh."

Re:Good news for Linux

[Alien Being]

"Wireless Fidelity"

Remember Victor record label with the dog staring into the horn of a victrola? This one should be staring into a pringles can.

Please, someone, please...

[Jedi Holocron]

Hack these with a worm or something so they all wander around exclaiming, "EXTERMINATE!"

AIBO AI Mind

[Mentifex]

The Aibo Kennel Club has an Aibo AI Mind that needs some re-working and hacking so as to be installed in your pet robot dog -- making it an intelligent companion.

A Python Software Development (SDK) is available for the Evolution Robotics ER1 Personal Robot -- why not for the Aibo?

The Python AI Weblog is a start for coding Python AI minds for Aibos and other robots.

The Visual Basic AI Weblog promotes AI coding not just for Aibo pet dogs but for humanoid robots.

The Perl AI Weblog is for perl geeks, Aibo owners, and coders of server-side 'Net-roaming AI.

The Lisp AI Weblog goes beyond Aibo and other toys into the most serious AI theory and practice.

Please support public-domain open-source artificial intelligence for Aibo and all other robots.

Re:Good news for Linux

[compass46]

Has anyone seriously thought about using AIBOs to detect wireless access points? Why not let them roam freely around a building looking for insecure or unauthorized access points? You could use the camera on the AIBO to take a picture of the location so that a human can investigate the situation later. Heck, could you unleash a pack of them and attempt to triangulate the source of a signal?

Um

[jguevin]

From the press release: "For example, the owner can send an email instruction to AIBO asking it to take an unsuspecting picture of the
owner's children and send it back to the mobile telephone."

Spy on your children with AIBO! Seriously, that's pretty creepy. But I suppose the first time a kid gets in trouble because AIBO was snooping around, he'll

1) Stop doing naughty stuff when AIBO is around.
2) Put a towel over AIBO's head.
3) Hack AIBO to send dad a picture of the kids sitting around reading books.
4) Hack AIBO to send a picture of dad in a compromising position to dad's boss.
5) Have a swarm of BattleBugs attack AIBO.

Dont forget!

[Unknown Poltroon]

Be sure to mount friggin lazer beams on their friggin heads!!

Re:Amen

[SnowZero]

Got to love Slashdot: $2500 Gaming rig = great, but a $1500 programmable robot = dumb investment. Being unhappy with an Aibo you don't get new programs for (or write them for free) is a bit like being depressed with a game console that you didn't buy any games for.

Re:Disappointing video

[ChristopherAltman]

... here are a few high-quality videos from Tokyo RoboDex 2003.

Re:imagine beowulf of those!

[John Zebedee]

Surely it would be a beowoof cluster?