>... that I found in January when I was researching this for a professor:
> Site Gutted by Sony based on DMCA
I'm not sure where you found it, but that is significantly out of date.
You will see aibopet.com and aibohack.com are running with lots of new content
Some minor comments:
> AIBO Uses Copy-Protection on its Memory Sticks > 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...
Actually it is a rather secure copy-protection mechanism.
Back doors that were left open in the first AIBO 210 release have been closed. Copy protection is important to Sony.
You are correct in that most AIBO owners will just buy the memory sticks (since they can afford $1000+ toys) > Japan-Only AiboWare Releases > Sony released several pieces of AiboWare that are only available in Japan.
Some of it is junk (IMHO), but some of it is good. Some software teaches your AIBO to play cards. Others are just more active or imaginative personalities.
Since AIBO understands voice commands, the Japanese sticks must be translated to understand English.
> More-or-less Complete 210 Hardware Reference The problem is not the CPU, but all the custom peripherals.
> First of all, the Aibo is programmed in something called "R-Code", part of the "Open-R" standard.
Actually RCODE is a script-like language that YOU can use to program your AIBO.
Most of Aibo's brain is written in C++.
> Only one program, Sony [sony.com]'s Master Studio [aibo.com], is capable of producing R-Code through anything other than editing the R-Code directly.
Check out AbNet (http://www.dogsbodynet.com/aibnet.html) if interested in writing your own RCODE. There are tools to make RCODE easier to write (and more like C/C++)
> Not only do SONY want people to add functionality to AIBO, they sponsor a competition for it - the Sony Legged Robot Soccer league in Robocup. Go to http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~robocup2001 or http://www.robocup.org for an description.
> You just have to buy licences to use their SDK. True, it's not open source, but you can't say that Sony aren't letting people hack AIBO.
That's a stretch.
-=-=-=-=-
Entrance to the competition is based on whether Sony will let you participate or not.
Applicants, typically universities, must apply. If they are selected, they need to pay $10,000 (+travel+most replacement parts)
Check out: http://www.robocup.org/games/02Fukuoka/cfa2002legg ed.html for 2002 rules (previous competitions had different rules, and most expensive entry costs)
-=-=-=-=-
They are not supporting "hacking" of their product (the commercial AIBO). The RoboCup dogs are different (mostly in software)
From the 2002 rules "Please note that consumer model ERS-210 cannot be used for RoboCup. "
-=-=-=-=-
If you are part of the competition, and you are under a heavy NDA not to discuss or publish details of the AIBO platform.
From the 2002 rules:
"Each team has to agree with NDA. The main point of the NDA is that each team has to agree with non-disclosure agreement about a specification of the robots, provided software, and development environment, including APIs
I can't find the 2002 NDA, but if it is like past ones, it is very restrictive.
-=-=-=-=-
FWIW: this year's RoboCup was a cake-walk for UNSW (previous winner) - they have superior and proprietary software.
-=-=-=-=-
You may have your definition of "hacking".
Robocup participants:
Are under the control of Sony (and are only permitted to participate)
Work within set guidelines.
Work under a heavy NDA.
Are not able to freely share their knowledge or code.
Did I mention that any Intellectual Property created is more or less owned by Sony.
> perhaps you should have contacted Sony first to see if they wanted you to help increase sales of this product in your own particular way
This is a big company we are talking about.
I have made such offers, and usually they just ignore my email or say "we'll think about it".
So if I were to ask them to do anything other than buy their products and use them as originally designed - the answer would be no.
-=-=-=-=
For many reasons, I don't expect them to actively support hacking.
At best it would be nice for them to condone hacking, especially when it helps their bottom line.
-=-=-=-=
I have been doing this stuff for almost 2 years now. Some of the files they wanted pulled are almost that old (for the ERS-111).
With the ERS-210 (about a year after my initial hacking), they encrypted most of the software - not necessary for copy protection - but for hacking protection (ie. to stop people hacking == me).
Of course, that in itself was a good hacking challenge.
I never actually figured out how they do the encryption -- that wasn't necessary because my AIBO already knew how.
> It is my understanding that the copyright law allows for non-commercial copying....
That is not my understanding (and I am no lawyer).
I do however agree with the stimulating sales part
> Secondly, what "copy-protection" is this guy talking about?
Starting with the ERS-210 AIBO, a specially formatted memory stick is required (that do not follow the memory stick standard).
The software is keyed so it only works with a certain physical memory stick.
You can only buy those sticks from Sony.
Aibo software on a memory stick runs in the price range of $80 to $150 dollars EACH. Blank sticks cost around $20. Obviously a means is needed protect the value added software business from illegal copying.
The normal memory sticks are colored blue (Sony purple), the AIBO copy protected memory sticks are colored pink (AIBO's favorite color).
BTW: there are also White ("Magic Gate") memory sticks that use a different format and mechanism for music copy protection.
-=-=-=-=-=
Back to the earlier point, this is mostly about copyright (not copy protection)
An analogy would be someone mirroring a patch to Unreal Tournament to their non-commercial site.
The patch still requires the CD to be drive to run the game.
Even in this case, the patch creator could come after the mirror site for illegally mirroring - even though all copy protection measures remain intact.
This does not happen in practice because such mirroring can only help the sales of the original product.
> It seems very clear that sony is only trying to prevent this guy from
...
> b) Telling people how to break sony's copy
protection mechanisms to get such software.
FWIW: the information that was formerly on the site intentionally provided insufficient details.
It was intended as a challenge for others to try and figure it out for themselves.
(I would repost the challenge here, but that would probably get me in trouble)
The short answer is: read the Sony provided memorystick.org - all the information you need is provided on their site.
If I could describe it, you may be surprised how simple the mechanism is (especially since it was created after MagicGate)
> If he published only binary patches, I think he'd be in the clear on copyright law
I originally was going to post only patches (it would make the downloads smaller too).
Other than inconvenience for the user, posting the patching tool could be dangerous. Such a tool could be used to defeat the relatively weak copy protection of Sony AiboWare.
This clearly gets into the DMCA area, and my goal was to help increase AIBO sales not decrease them.
The current approach was to provide new functionality while maintaining the copy protection of the existing system.
Slashdot Mirror
> ... that I found in January when I was researching this for a professor:
> Site Gutted by Sony based on DMCA
I'm not sure where you found it, but that is significantly out of date.
You will see aibopet.com and aibohack.com are running with lots of new content
Some minor comments:
> AIBO Uses Copy-Protection on its Memory Sticks
> 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...
Actually it is a rather secure copy-protection mechanism.
Back doors that were left open in the first AIBO 210 release have been closed. Copy protection is important to Sony.
You are correct in that most AIBO owners will just buy the memory sticks (since they can afford $1000+ toys)
> Japan-Only AiboWare Releases
> Sony released several pieces of AiboWare that are only available in Japan.
Some of it is junk (IMHO), but some of it is good. Some software teaches your AIBO to play cards. Others are just more active or imaginative personalities.
Since AIBO understands voice commands, the Japanese sticks must be translated to understand English.
> More-or-less Complete 210 Hardware Reference
The problem is not the CPU, but all the custom peripherals.
> First of all, the Aibo is programmed in something called "R-Code", part of the "Open-R" standard.
Actually RCODE is a script-like language that YOU can use to program your AIBO.
Most of Aibo's brain is written in C++.
> Only one program, Sony [sony.com]'s Master Studio [aibo.com], is capable of producing R-Code through anything other than editing the R-Code directly.
Check out AbNet (http://www.dogsbodynet.com/aibnet.html) if interested in writing your own RCODE. There are tools to make RCODE easier to write (and more like C/C++)
> ... Windows 2K or XP is require for the SDK, but what's weird is they use gcc.
It is GNU-ish
GNU tools run on Linux or Windows (with Cygwin)
[ GNU is not Unix, Linux is really GNU/Linux ]
----
You can use the tools on Linux (or other Unix variants) if you want.
Getting some of the hardware to work on Linux can be a challenge (memory stick reader, WiFi LAN card)
> Not only do SONY want people to add functionality to AIBO, they sponsor a competition for it - the Sony Legged Robot Soccer league in Robocup. Go to http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~robocup2001 or http://www.robocup.org for an description.
g ed.html for 2002 rules (previous competitions had different rules, and most expensive entry costs)
> You just have to buy licences to use their SDK. True, it's not open source, but you can't say that Sony aren't letting people hack AIBO.
That's a stretch.
-=-=-=-=-
Entrance to the competition is based on whether Sony will let you participate or not.
Applicants, typically universities, must apply. If they are selected, they need to pay $10,000 (+travel+most replacement parts)
Check out: http://www.robocup.org/games/02Fukuoka/cfa2002leg
-=-=-=-=-
They are not supporting "hacking" of their product (the commercial AIBO). The RoboCup dogs are different (mostly in software)
From the 2002 rules "Please note that consumer model ERS-210 cannot be used for RoboCup. "
-=-=-=-=-
If you are part of the competition, and you are under a heavy NDA not to discuss or publish details of the AIBO platform.
From the 2002 rules:
"Each team has to agree with NDA. The main point of the NDA is that each team has to agree with non-disclosure agreement about a specification of the robots, provided software, and development environment, including APIs
I can't find the 2002 NDA, but if it is like past ones, it is very restrictive.
-=-=-=-=-
FWIW: this year's RoboCup was a cake-walk for UNSW (previous winner) - they have superior and proprietary software.
-=-=-=-=-
You may have your definition of "hacking".
Robocup participants:
Are under the control of Sony (and are only permitted to participate)
Work within set guidelines.
Work under a heavy NDA.
Are not able to freely share their knowledge or code.
Did I mention that any Intellectual Property created is more or less owned by Sony.
That situation, I do not consider "hacking".
--AiboPet
> perhaps you should have contacted Sony first to see if they wanted you to help increase sales of this product in your own particular way
This is a big company we are talking about.
I have made such offers, and usually they just ignore my email or say "we'll think about it".
So if I were to ask them to do anything other than buy their products and use them as originally designed - the answer would be no.
-=-=-=-=
For many reasons, I don't expect them to actively support hacking.
At best it would be nice for them to condone hacking, especially when it helps their bottom line.
-=-=-=-=
I have been doing this stuff for almost 2 years now. Some of the files they wanted pulled are almost that old (for the ERS-111).
With the ERS-210 (about a year after my initial hacking), they encrypted most of the software - not necessary for copy protection - but for hacking protection (ie. to stop people hacking == me).
Of course, that in itself was a good hacking challenge.
I never actually figured out how they do the encryption -- that wasn't necessary because my AIBO already knew how.
> It is my understanding that the copyright law allows for non-commercial copying....
That is not my understanding (and I am no lawyer).
I do however agree with the stimulating sales part
> Secondly, what "copy-protection" is this guy talking about?
Starting with the ERS-210 AIBO, a specially formatted memory stick is required (that do not follow the memory stick standard).
The software is keyed so it only works with a certain physical memory stick.
You can only buy those sticks from Sony.
Aibo software on a memory stick runs in the price range of $80 to $150 dollars EACH. Blank sticks cost around $20. Obviously a means is needed protect the value added software business from illegal copying.
The normal memory sticks are colored blue (Sony purple), the AIBO copy protected memory sticks are colored pink (AIBO's favorite color).
BTW: there are also White ("Magic Gate") memory sticks that use a different format and mechanism for music copy protection.
-=-=-=-=-=
Back to the earlier point, this is mostly about copyright (not copy protection)
An analogy would be someone mirroring a patch to Unreal Tournament to their non-commercial site.
The patch still requires the CD to be drive to run the game.
Even in this case, the patch creator could come after the mirror site for illegally mirroring - even though all copy protection measures remain intact.
This does not happen in practice because such mirroring can only help the sales of the original product.
Actually I can't spell.
See disclaimer: Here's the text of the letter sent to me (typed in, so typos are probably mine).
taking your comment seriously for a second (not intended as flame bait)
AIBO runs Aperios and "OPEN-R" a proprietary operating system and Robot runtime created by Sony.
There is no public API or documentation.
In comparison Windows CE is considerably more open than "OPEN-R".
> b) Telling people how to break sony's copy protection mechanisms to get such software.
FWIW: the information that was formerly on the site intentionally provided insufficient details.
It was intended as a challenge for others to try and figure it out for themselves.
(I would repost the challenge here, but that would probably get me in trouble)
The short answer is: read the Sony provided memorystick.org - all the information you need is provided on their site.
If I could describe it, you may be surprised how simple the mechanism is (especially since it was created after MagicGate)
> If he published only binary patches, I think he'd be in the clear on copyright law
I originally was going to post only patches (it would make the downloads smaller too).
Other than inconvenience for the user, posting the patching tool could be dangerous. Such a tool could be used to defeat the relatively weak copy protection of Sony AiboWare.
This clearly gets into the DMCA area, and my goal was to help increase AIBO sales not decrease them.
The current approach was to provide new functionality while maintaining the copy protection of the existing system.
No good deed goes unpunished!