We are sad to hear news that Sony, in a cost-cutting measure, is shuttering the robotics division famous for the production of the Aibo robotic dog. They were a little pricey at $2,000 a pop but they were really sophisticated and quite ahead of their time. Sony provided a SDK which could be used to program emotions and face recognition software allowed the dog to respond to it’s owners.
We also will never get the chance to see 60 Aibo dogs dancing in unison to the Bee Gees. (6.6MB wmv file)
The AIBO was one of my few guilty pleasures. I ordered in the “lottery” when they first came out and shelled out over $3500 bucks to have this little lump of plastic in my home. I really do love it though. I only wish I bought one of the later ones (vocal regonition, wifi camera, etc) but I know my Aibo would be jealous.
Anyway, sad to see that he’s become an endangered species….