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New Version of Sony's AIBO Robot Dog Released
Cave_Monster writes "Sony has unveiled a new version of its canine robot AIBO which, unlike your average puppy, can talk and keep a diary but which still needs love and attention. Sony starts taking orders Thursday, with a price tag of 194,250 yen (US $2,263.40) in Japan including a five-per cent sales tax. Now that's one expensive toy!"
Here's a link to Sony's own AIBO page, which really should have been in the story.
And I bet you can install OSX on them...
The robo-dog may steal owners away from the Tamagotchi virtual pet, which swept the world in the mid-1990s.
Uhm, yeah. This +$2K puppy will surely steal the market share from a $10 toy!
Expensive? Bear in mind that most $2k computers go to ten-year-olds and they are also pretty much just toys so that makes them expensive too. Nah, I'd say that $2k for a robot puppy is actually quite reasonably-priced if not a bargain.
Did anyone ever play with theirs for longer than 5 minutes? More importantly, what audience is there to 'steal' given that these haven't been on the market for years?
But does it bite ?
In case anyone's curious, AIBO sounds like aibou, which in Japanese means partner or pal, etc, kind of along the same lines as "best friend" in "man's best friend."
Many dog owners keep their dog for practical reasons: for game hunting, as seeing-eye dogs, for companionship, or for protection/security. While these robotic dogs may provide some form of companionship, are they useful for anything else? Or are they just technological curiosities?
Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
"AIBO owners have sometimes asked us what AIBO is feeling like in certain situations as it was not clear. They will be pleased to have this speaking function,"
Yeah, that's just what I want. Guests over at my house, and all of a sudden out of nowhere comes a fucking robot dog asking me "Why don't you love me? Why don't you love me? Why don't you love me?"
I'm waiting until I can buy the Sony Celladiowave from Sony Style Magazine
Join the TWIT army now!
"But it also comes with several lives. Owners can skip the maturing process and make AIBO an adult instantly or switch the adult back to a pup to enjoy the growing-up stage." I realize that the AIBO is an extremely simple piece of equipment when compared to even a unicellular organism, but still. People who buy this are looking to impose the "dog" abstraction on it. Sony is trying very hard to make AIBO owners treat it like a real dog. It's a little disturbing that it can be reset with the push of a button. Either the owners are going to be apathetic towards it, since it isn't realistic enough to empathize with, or they're going to be wierded out when their mature "dog" suddenly starts acting like a puppy. I know it'd creep me out.
Until then, I see this sort of thing as just a toy that would be liable to be entertaining for all of... oh... maybe up to a week or so, and then forgotten. Kind of a lot of money to spend on something with such a brief entertainment value, don't you think?
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
One factoid not mentioned in the linked article is that the new AIBO can blog.
Yes, blog. In addition to "talking" and keeping a "diary" of its daily routine, it can automatically and wirelessly upload its entries to an public blog website for all to read. (For all Japanese-literate, at least.) As with any blog, the owner and similarly squishy entities can submit comments to AIBO's entries.
http://www.jp.aibo.com/products/ers7m3/aep04.html
Sony actually thought it was necessary to post the following warning:
"* [People] can write comments, but AIBO cannot respond to the comments."
Plus, you can train AIBO with your daily routine by importing your Microsoft Outlook schedule into him/her/soulless thingy. For example, AIBO can dictate today's news headlines as you eat breakfast.
I'll let the concept of an unholy alliance between robotic dogs, blogs, and Microsoft Outlook sink in before the blood-curdling begins.
I showed it to my AI professor once and he told me that Sony sent these out to universities when they first came out so researchers could play with them. Then he showed me the thing that made it so amazing. No matter how you oriented the AIBO, it can always stand upright. If you put it on its side, it will move its legs so it rolls over until its belly is on the ground and then proceed to get up. You can't put it with its back side down because of the head (Sony designed it that way on purpose). Its ability to stand up is probably the most amusing part. Otherwise, it wasn't all the great, IMO. I eventually gave it to boss' kids because I thought it would amuse and inspire them more than it did for me and hopefully one of them would go into AI someday.
EvilCON - Made Famous by
Toxic darts?! Dude, nothing keeps away unwanted house guests like a dog that gets too friendly with legs.
That head looks a bit like Giger's Alien, I couldn't resist doing a bit of a redesign.
SDR and Papero looks pretty good, but most robot designs out there doesn't appeal to me at all. Maybe they're limited by engineering problems though. Right home robotics seem to be where the home computers were back in the 1970's, ie. expensive kits with no real screens and little use (KIM etc).
One day there might be kits in the local hobbystore containing a bunch of joints you can connect as you like, then the head (software) automatically develops movement patterns etc...
The Chair Corp. comic(*00-12)
I want a Marvin.
Marvin doesn't want you.