AIBO (Artificial Intelligence RoBOt, homonymous with aibō (相棒), "pal" or "partner" in Japanese) is a series of robotic dogs designed and manufactured by Sony. Sony announced a prototype Aibo in mid-1998,[1] and the first consumer model was introduced on 11 May 1999.[2] New models were released every year until 2006. Although most models were inspired by dogs, other inspirations included lion cubs and space explorers. Only the ERS-7, ERS-110/111 and ERS-1000 versions were explicitly a "robotic dog", but the 210 can also be considered a dog due to its Jack Russell Terrier appearance and face.[3] In 2006, AIBO was added into the Carnegie Mellon University Robot Hall of Fame.[4]
On 26 January 2006 Sony announced that it would discontinue AIBO and several other products in an effort to make the company more profitable.[5] Sony's AIBO customer support was withdrawn gradually, with support for the final ERS-7M3 ending in March 2013.[6] In July 2014, Sony stopped providing repairs for AIBO products and did not provide customer support or repair for the older AIBO robots.[7]
In November 2017, Sony announced a new generation of AIBO.[8][9] The fourth generation model, ERS-1000, was launched in Japan on 11 January 2018. The second lottery sale was set on 6 February 2018.[10]
History
The AIBO product line was developed at Sony's Computer Science Laboratory (CSL). Founded in 1990, CSL was set up to emulate the innovation center at the Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). CSL's first product was the Aperios operating system, which later formed the base software used by some AIBO models. When Nobuyuki Idei became president of Sony in 1995, he sought to adopt a digital agenda and gave greater prominence to CSL.[11]
Dr. Toshitada Doi is credited as AIBO's original progenitor: in 1994 he had started work on robots at CSL with artificial intelligence expert Masahiro Fujita. Fujita felt that the robots' behaviors needed to "be sufficiently complex or unexpected so that people keep an interest in watching or taking care of it".[12] Fujita argued at the time that, while technologies such as voice recognition and vision were not mature enough for critical applications, their limited capabilities could be a novel, interesting and attractive feature for "appropriately designed entertainment robots". His early monkey-like prototype "MUTANT" included behaviors such as tracking a yellow ball, shaking hands, karate strikes and sleeping, all of which were later adopted in AIBOs. Fujita received the IEEE Inaba Technical Award for Innovation Leading to Production for AIBO as "the world's first mass-market consumer robot for entertainment applications".[13]
Models
Prototypes
Several prototypes have been displayed by Sony. Early models were insect-like with six legs. The specifications and design of the 1997 and 1998 prototypes, described in a Sony press release, closely match those of the first generation AIBOs. Differences include the use of PC-Cards for memory (rather than MemoryStick media), the use of two batteries, and the option to use a 2-wheeled "rolling module" in place of legs.[28]
First generation models (11x)
ERS-110
The first commercially available AIBO, the ERS-110 has a beagle-like appearance and is silver with a golden-brown hue and grey claws. There was a limited production of 5,000 units: 3,000 for Japan and 2,000 for the US market. Sales began on 1 June 1999 and sold out via the Internet in 20 minutes. It is often considered the rarest model of AIBO. The ERS-110 cost 250,000 yen, or US$2,500, which would convert to over $3,500 as of 2020.
ERS-111
Hardware
The initial ERS-110 AIBO's hardware includes a 64-bit RISC processor, 16 megabytes of RAM, sensors (touch, camera, range-finder, microphone, acceleration, angular velocity), a speaker, and actuators (legs, neck, mouth, tail).[31] As the series developed, more sensors and actuators were added. During the latter half of the second aibo model, 2x0, a revised model named Super Core was released which fixed a flaw in the robots' head clutch which over time caused tilting, panning, and drooping issues, also known as PAS, TAS, and DHS. These revision models also included a much faster processor, hence the name Super Core. Wi-Fi was available as an add-on for some second-generation AIBOs. The third family of AIBOs, the ERS-7s, have multiple head and body sensors, clicking ear actuators, a chest-mounted proximity sensor, expressive "Illume-Face" and Wi-Fi connectivity.
All AIBOs were bundled with accessories including a charging station and pink ball toy. Late-model ERS7's were bundled with a pink AIBone bone-shaped toy (as did the AIBO ERS-1000 models), playing cards, and a charging station with a pole and marker mat for autonomous docking.
Software
All AIBO models prior to the ERS-1000 were bundled with AIBOLife software, enabling the robot to walk, "see" its environment via camera, recognize spoken commands (English and Spanish, or Japanese), and develop a "personality". AIBO's sounds were programmed by Japanese DJ/avant-garde composer Nobukazu Takemura, fusing mechanical and organic concepts.[36] The sounds and music in the ERS-7's Mind series of software were composed by Japanese musician and game designer Masaya Matsuura.[37]
Aperios and Open-R
Aperios is Sony's Proprietary Real-Time Operating system, used in all AIBOs, QRIO and some other consumer devices. Aperios OS was intended to be widely deployed, using real-time capabilities to handle multiple audio and visual data streams concurrently.[38] The operating system was not widely adopted, and by 2003 Sony had stopped active development with COO Kunitake Ando commenting "Aperios was an operating system of a pre-Internet age and we decided that it isn't adequate for the future".[39]
AIBOs in education and academia
AIBOs were used extensively in education. For example, Carnegie Mellon offered an AIBO-centred robotics course covering models of perception, cognition, and action for solving problems.[56] Robotbenchmark[57] also features an online simulation challenge based on an AIBO ERS-7 model called "Visual Tracking".[58]
RoboCup Four-Legged League
The AIBO has seen much use as an inexpensive platform for artificial intelligence education and research because it integrates a computer, vision system, and articulators in a package vastly cheaper than conventional research robots. One focal point for that development has been the Robocup Leagues.
The Four-Legged League was the initial name for the RoboCup Standard Platform League, a robot soccer league in which all teams compete with identical robots. The robots operate fully autonomously, with no external control by humans nor computers.
International AIBO Convention
The International AIBO Convention takes place every year at Sony Robotics Tower in the Shinjuku prefecture of Tokyo, Japan. The first convention took place on 15 May 1999. It was then set to 2–4 May. The 2009 convention, being in its tenth year, set attendance records. The convention usually features AIBO advertisements, free posters, free accessories, freeware/open-source downloads and AIBO demonstrations.
Animation
The AIBO television series Piroppo (ピロッポ) was a series of animated shorts (approximately 6 minutes each) based around AIBO ERS-31xes, Latte and Macaron. The animated series triggered sounds and actions from viewers' ERS-31xes in media-link mode on the proper software.[60] The 23-episode series was broadcast on Fuji TV from 11 October 2001, to 21 March 2002.
In popular culture
When AIBO was introduced, The New Yorker published a cartoon by Jack Ziegler showing AIBO "urinating" nuts and bolts on a fire hydrant.[61]
The AIBO ERS-111 was used in Janet Jackson's "Doesn't Really Matter" music video, and received increased market demand and commercial success after being featured with Jackson in the clip.[62]
The AIBO ERS-311 was featured in the Swedish girl group Play's music video for their song "Us Against The World".
In an episode of Frasier, Frasier gives his dad an AIBO ERS-210 to keep him company while he is visiting Roz in Wisconsin. There is a scene with Eddie interacting with the AIBO, while Martin Crane complains to Sony about not being able to get it to work.
In the Futurama episode "Jurassic Bark", Bender is seen with a robotic dog resembling an AIBO named Robo-Puppy.
In the film Click, Kevin's new Robo-dog an AIBO ERS-7, was run over by the dad's car.
See also
- Cindy Smart
- Genibo
- i-Cybie
- Musio
- QRIO
- Robot app store
- Furby
Further reading
- Friedman, Batya, Peter H. Kahn Jr, and Jennifer Hagman. "Hardware companions? What online AIBO discussion forums reveal about the human-robotic relationship." Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems. 2003.
- Kerepesi, Andrea, et al. "Behavioural comparison of human–animal (dog) and human–robot (AIBO) interactions." Behavioural processes 73.1 (2006): 92-99.
- Veloso, Manuela M., et al. "CMRoboBits: Creating an intelligent AIBO robot." AI magazine 27.1 (2006): 67-67.
- Bartneck, Christoph, et al. "The influence of people’s culture and prior experiences with Aibo on their attitude towards robots." Ai & Society 21.1 (2007): 217-230.
- Weiss, Astrid, Daniela Wurhofer, and Manfred Tscheligi. "“I love this dog”—children’s emotional attachment to the robotic dog AIBO.
External links
References
- Sony Global - Press Release - Sony Develops OPEN-R Architecture for Entertainment Robots Demonstrates 4-legged robot prototypes based on the architecture retrieved 2013-01-14^
- Sony Global - Press Release - Sony Launches Four-Legged Entertainment Robot "AIBO" Creates a New Market for Robot-Based Entertainment retrieved 2013-03-10^
- Lance Ulanoff. Surprise! Sony's AIBO Is a Dog