Aibo – The charming robotic pet

Aibo is a series of robotic pets designed and manufactured by Sony Corporation.The latest model is Aibo ERS-1000. With life-like expressions and a dynamic array of movements, Aibo’s lovable behavior brings warmth and delight to the everyday lives of its owners. The prototype of Aibo was announced by Sony in mid-1998. Its first consumer model was introduced on May 11, 1999.

As Aibo learns its environment and develops relationships with people, its identity takes on more and more layers. The sixth-generation robotic dog combines robotics with image sensors and AI (Artificial intelligence), enabling it to learn behaviors and recognize faces.

“This is truly a one-of-a-kind product designed to connect with its owners on an emotional level” – Mike Fasulo (Sony Electronics North America president)

This interactive robotic pet toy has a brain (CPU), the ability to move (20 points of articulation), and sensory organs (sensors). Aibo is designed to learn tricks as the real dogs, and can also react accordingly with human interactions like scratches on the head, high five etc.

AIBO’s head has a touch sensor for non-verbal communication, stereo microphones for hearing, a color video camera for vision, and a distance detector to allow AIBO to avoid obstacles. AIBO has voice recognition components that allows it to be programmed to recognize its own name and understand over 50 verbal commands.

Sunaya Paison
Photo Courtesy: Google/ images are subject to copyright