Aibo and the Days of Hot Dog-on-Robot Action

In 1999, the world met Aibo, the $2,500 robotic dog from Sony. The following year brought quite the litter of less expensive mechanized pups. Real dogs, however, had mixed feelings about their cyber counterparts. More »

Rolly Orchestrates Aibo Chorus of Doom

Ladies and Gentlemen, I introduce us to the real enemy. You thought your robot overlords would resemble Skynet? No, my friend. What you should be fearing is this: obedient, discontinued machine puppies. [Robot.Impress]

Top Tips on Socializing Pets and Bots, Courtesy of WSJ

The Wall Street Journal has a great feature this morning about pets and household robots, such as Roombas and Pleos. Writer Andrew Lavallee has compiled all sorts of anecdotes—including useful tips on how to bed your pet in with the 'bot in your life, including protecting your Sony Aibo from cat bites (cayenne pepper and Cholula hot sauce applied to the 'bot butt, apparently). One dog owner told off the Roomba in front of his mutt, and the dog never lunged at the robot vacuum again. [WSJ]

New AIBO in the Works, Could be PS3-Compatible

According to an interview with game designer and Sony buddy Masaya Matsuura, a new AIBOesque device is in development. From his interview with Kotaku:

"The engineers behind the Aibo are doing the PS3. We are talking about making something like the new Aibo."

More »

RoboSquare Has All Robots to Bite Your Non-Shiny, Non-Metal Ass But Bender

Anyone rabidly into robots and heading to Japan needs to check out RoboSquare. Situated on the second floor of the TNC Broadcast Hall in Fukuoka City, RoboSquare is described as a "Test-Drive Center" for our more compact and bijou automaton friends. Although it opened in 2002, the center has just moved into larger premises and upped its 'bot count from 41 to 111. You can even worship at a shrine to Aibo if you want... More »

Ridiculous Sony AIBO Accessories

A few guys and a researcher were messing around with building a playroom for the AIBo so it could learn new skills. In the process, they came up with some accessories for the AIBO that makes it look pretty damn goofy. More »

Genibo: Aibo Knockoff Coming

For those Aibo fanboys still weeping over the discontinuance of the object of their techno-affection, in prances Korean company Dasastech with Genibo, the robot dog that comes when you call and never shits on the floor. More »

Genibo, The New Robot Puppy

South Korean company DasaTech is looking to fill the robot-dog-void left when Sony discontinued the AIBO recently. Looking at the sample video, we can say that the Genibo's motion isn't very smooth — more like quick and jerky. Pretty much what you would expect of a robotic dog that hasn't been a couple cycles of product development. More »

Jindo To Fill Your Need for Robot Dogs

Nature and marketeers abhor a vacuum, and so the hole left by the demise of Sony's robot dog Aibo will soon be filled with another, more ambitious design. Jindo—Hindi for "alive"—has specifications that are both impressive and head-scratching. The Korean developer of Jindo, Eungsang Park, has given it a Navigator Screen that will let you watch DMB TV and check your email and access web pages. The tail is the joystick, making for some awkward positioning when playing games. Even more awkward is the fact that the DVD insert is directly below the tail. I also can't help but wonder how the dog is held when in use as a cell phone. Also notable on the diagram are the items simply labeled "in" and "button." Clearly the design is still a little rough. More »

Aibo Reborn in Software

Aibo, your candle burned out long before your legend ever did, and Tea Vui Huang is keeping you alive through the magic of warez. Aibo Memories is a controllable Aibo simulator for Symbian Series 60 phones. While the value of this software is very dubious, I suspect Aibo lovers will be wiping a tear from their cheeks as they watch the world's favorite robotic pooch gambol again. More »

Sony To Chuck Classy Living

Though most of us think of Sony as solely an electronics company, you may be interested to know that the Japanese giant also owns large stakes in what it calls "non-core" businesses as well. These include importer-retailer Sony Plaza Co., cosmetics maker B&C Laboratories Inc., French-restaurant chain Maxim's de Paris Corp., and mail order firm Sony Family Club Inc., which were acquired long ago by late Sony founder Akio Morita. But recently, in an effort to focus on its core CE business, Sony has decided to sell sizeable stakes in these luxury markets to bring in several tens of billions of yen, and become leaner, meaner and more able to fight off competition like Apple. More »

Sony Confirms Robot Shutdown, QUALIA Axed?

Well, it's true, folks. Not only has the Aibo been nixed from Sony's future, but it looks like QRIO, our robot with the third eye is also bidding a fond farewell. Here's the statement straight from the source: More »

Fetch! The New AIBO ERS-7M3

About time! Sony hasn't given up on good ol' AIBO at all! This is a huge improvement and upgrade over the original ERS-7 model. This time, AIBO will be able to recognize over 1000 words (or a picture...har har har), a new service called AIBO Photo Diary, and a whole lot more. No release date yet and the price will most likely be around $2000 or so. More »

Robot Dog to Human: "Go for a walk, fatty."

In last month's episode of "What odd thing is MIT making now" we discovered the jerk-o-meter that analyzed telephonic speech patterns to determine if your "friends" really care about your "life" over the phone. Well this month the crazy MIT kids are making life even more pitiful with one of those Sony robotic dogs. This AIBO robot can criticize one of the issues that makes people feel most insecure, weight gain. The dog links up to the weight scale, a pedometer and a personal organizer that food intake logs are stored in. From there the robot can properly calculate how much of a tub of lard you are and insist that you go for a walk, or a liposuction. Thanks MIT, now you guys are rocket scientists who also get to take stabs at the rest of the world. More »

Here iDoggie-Doggie

We've already seen those dancing beer can-radios that groove along to FM broadcasts, but now the genre has moved on to "man's best friend." The Sega Toys iDog not only rips off Apple's packaging (like everything else these days) but it's AIBO-like facial expressions take a lesson from Sony as well. Just sit the iDog next to your speakers or plug it into your iPod's headphone jack and watch it dance along to your favorite trax. Seven LED lights in its face flash along to the rhythm and sensors in its face and tail detect light changes and touch to denote different emotional and musical responses. Its built in memory holds up to 70 songs and it can even create simple music through its movements. The only thing it's missing is the iPooper Scooper. More »