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Sony Announces Robotic Dog
Dr. Wild wrote in
to tell us that Sony has announced their
portable dog/robot.
We've mentioned this here a few times before, but now its official.
The article actually spends most of the space talking about
how the robot might be some crafty trick to sneak Sony
technology into the US market place. I just thought it
was a little robotic dog. Guess I'm naive.
Saw it on CNN last night. Looked pretty slick - the "dog" can right itself if it falls over, apparently it does respond to voice input. And, you lift up the tail and open a door to put in a long black battery pack.
I'll name my "Rags", after the robot dog in Woody Allen's Sleeper.
...phil
...phil
"For a list of the ways which technology has failed to improve our quality of life, press 3."
It even comes with that proprietary memory stick discussed before. Is that the technology they are trying to sneak in the US? May the dog bite it.
Anyhow, it does not mention what kind of sensors for negotiating the environment this dog sports. It would also be interesting how developed the locomotion is. Can it run? Jump? Play catch? If it had seperate servos for each foot, there would be significant possibilities for a programmable dog. Fetching the paper unaided, for instance!
Those dogs are pretty cool. I have friends at UPenn who are training [read coding] a fleet of them to play soccer on their own. pretty damn cool if you ask me. Thee big issue is a lot of the functions are currently "inaccessable"... read sony ain't tellin them what they need to know [like calls to things like leg actuaters]. From what I was hearing it's a pretty cool project [hi Bo!]
Blocklevel: Practical Information Architecture
It appears that this writer had some kind of a preconception about this robot dog, which he couldn't back up with his reporting, but decided to go with anyway--that this robot dog is trying to sneak Sony tech into our homes.
If that is the mission of the robot dogs, he might have asked himself about their VAIO computers, Trinitron monitors, Walkmen, portable CD players, Playstations,and even credit cards.
Sony has been pretty damned successful at sneaking their technology into my life--and that of many or most other Americans.
As for the robodog--it's fairly dumb, doesn't appear to have much upgrade potential (from my brief investigation), and has little, if any market potential. Way too expensive, for one thing. They'll probably sell a few thousand of this model.
But check back in three years. I suspect Sony will be selling a robot assistant that tags along in your house, offers advice and info, and does simple tasks.
This is *just a test marketing project* y'all. Think of it as a public beta. They will do extensive research on the problems people run into with this version, and come back to market in a few years with an amazing toy for rich geeks.
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Interesting story, crappy article. I am amazed that any one would allow that to go out with their name on it. The guy talks to 3 different people all of who say they doubt that the toy is a trick to break into the market, yet he still writes an article about Sony doing just that. Maybe it was supposed to be funny. Too bad it wasn't.
By the way I think that the release of the toy is actually quite interesting. I just wish there had been more content about what it is capable of. What are the capabilities? Does it bark? Does it recognize voice commands?
http://www.world.sony.com/robot/top.html for all the information you need.
IMHO this is just too cool; web site explains all
Trick people into thinking they're buying a dog, then secretly load it up with subversive Sony technology! Maybe it's got a Sony "nightshot" vision system, and is beaming images of naked American chicks back to Japan!