Like so many things Sony has made over the years, Aibo — the world’s first mass-marketed robot — is a niche product. And as Sony is pulling the plug on robot production as part of a major restructuring, so goes the toy poodle-sized Aibo…and Sony as an innovator?

Ed. Note: Pardon the delay in reporting this, but we’ve been too devastated to blog it … OK, actually, that’s not true. Anyhow, we know we’re behind on this item, especially upon considering in terms of blog-time. It’s shameful, really. But here we go with our brief news/obit.


Robotic canine companion Aibo, which recognizes its owners’ faces and is programmed for sympathy, tends to have fiercely loyal fans. Its eyes light up in red to show when it is angry and green to convey happiness. It even learns its own name. It has seen use as an inexpensive platform for artificial-intelligence research, because it integrates a computer, vision system and articulators in a package significantly cheaper than conventional research robots.

Aibo also was the first mass-marketed robot.

However, none of that prevented Sony Corp. from announcing, at the end of January, that the company will be putting the dog to sleep — scrapping the robot pet “as part of the company’s bid to reverse flagging fortunes and cut costs,” the Associated Press reported late last week. In effect, as part of Sony’s ongoing cost-cutting and reorganization effort, Aibo is going the way of Old Yeller.

In a message on the official Aibo Web site, owners are notified of the disappointing news and told that production of Aibo robots will end in March 2006, with only remaining stocks being available to buy before all sales dry up. An Aibo costs about $2,000.

Since the four-legged robot dog’s first introduction in 1999, the fiercely loyal fans purchased 150,000 Aibos and thus became fiercely loyal “pet owners.” Upon its debut, Aibo was both an early use of Sony technologies such as the Memory Stick and its proprietary embedded operating system, as well as advanced robotics technology from the company’s research and development labs. Since then, they have created an online fan base around the world, going so far as to post pictures taken by their dogs and…even dressing up their canine robots like babies. (A bit much? Not to pass judgment, but These people are kinda’ creepy, no?) Now these owners worry they will be unable to acquire spare parts.

Sony promises to provide maintenance for Aibos for seven years after production ends next month (March).

There is more to it than these perhaps-overly attached now-dispirited “pet owners,” though. Scrapping Aibo also “may have robbed Sony of some of its mystique,” AP noted.

To many, Aibo represented the tradition of innovation at Sony, which gave the world the Walkman portable music player and the PlayStation video-game machine. Some hospitals have used Aibo in therapy. Aibo even plays soccer.

Aibo, which comes in black, white, brown and gray and is programmed to move about on its own, delivers “an amusing illusion of spontaneity and personality,” AP noted:

It has image-recognition capabilities and a digital camera in its head that allows it to chase a special pink ball and avoid bumping into walls. The robots’ charm comes in part from how their behavior somewhat reflects how they’ve been treated by their masters. At times, an Aibo will refuse to be toilet-trained and impudently raise a hind leg — although, of course, it won’t ever wet the rug. An Aibo can understand 100 words and phrases and recognize three people’s faces as it stores digital photos in its brain. It knows when its behavior is being praised because it has a sensor on its head that recognizes when it’s being petted. Later versions have a built-in camera so Aibos can serve as home sentinels, and e-mail their owners if something appears to be amiss.

Aibo’s vision system uses the SIFT algorithm, to recognize its charging station. The newest versions are equipped with a Wi-Fi connection, allowing them to send the pictures they take via email. As a result, the Roblog originated.

Masato Maruyama, an engineer, said he believes Sony isn’t only hurting Aibo owners, who feel as if they’re being told their pets have just seven more years to live. Rather, he told AP, “I feel the decision to withdraw from a product that’s so representative of Sony heralds an end for Sony as a global leader.”

Takeshi Ohashi, a Kyushu Institute of Technology professor and RoboCup organizer, considers Aibo “a gem of technological finesse.” He plans to appeal to Sony to bring the robots back.

RIP

(Credit: Wikipedia)

AP: Sony puts robot dog Aibo to sleep
ZDNet: Sony puts Aibo to sleep

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