Let sleeping dogs lie? Nah.
SONY HAS relaunched its Aibo robotic dog some 11 years after discontinuing it in 2006, and this time it’s packed with artificial intelligence and a wealth of smarter sensors.
Aibo, first launched in 1999, is pitched by Sony as a robo-pet that will act just like a real dog – sans the poop scooping requirement – and one that can form an emotional bond with its users.
Its personality and emotions are expressed through a combination of eye, ear and tail movements, and it also responds to voice commands, like its owner calling it over.
To make what was previously a slightly robotic lumbering a little more lifelike, Aibo now has a plethora of actuators that allow it to move across a total of 22 axes. On top of this, four microphones, dual cameras and a bunch of other sensors allow it to move around freely and respond to commands.
More importantly than the sensor and internal tech upgrades is that it’s now drawing on cloud computing for its improved AI interactions.
Sony says that, over time, Aibo will learn to be « able to respond to its owners’ affection in kind. » And if you give it permission to upload and download learned behaviours across all Aibo units, it should pick up new skills even faster.
Now for the bad news (for anyone outside of Japan) – there are no plans announced to bring it to the UK as yet and the battery life for the little fella will only see it through about two hours before it needs recharging.
Then, of course, there’s the cost, which works out at around £1,300 (198,000 JPY) for the unit itself, then around £20 per month for the three-year support plan and then another £130 for one-year of ‘Support Care’.
If none of that is off-putting, and you happen to live in Japan, Aibo and its poorly-named accompanying Aibone dog toy will be going on sale in January next year. µ
