[HN Gopher] Sony's Robot Dog, Aibo
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Sony's Robot Dog, Aibo
Author : leancz
Score : 64 points
Date : 2021-08-17 06:41 UTC (16 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.theguardian.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.theguardian.com)
| ourcat wrote:
| I still have my ERS-220. Given it in lieu of payment for a
| website I did years ago.
| post_break wrote:
| I love how many random things people get in stead of the cash
| they deserve for web design.
| ourcat wrote:
| The friend/colleague I built it for had been given it for
| some other unrelated job he had done. So, I asked for it ;)
| danbmil99 wrote:
| Ours was named Otno. Still around but not operational for the
| last 10+ years.
|
| A really incredible achievement, totally ahead of its time. Not
| ready to grant Otno true consciousness, but there was certainly a
| degree of -- intentionality?
| ourcat wrote:
| Ours was called "Cybinky". After our old (late) cat "Binky".
| rwmj wrote:
| One option is the Aibo funeral:
| https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/in-japan--...
| lordnacho wrote:
| Does anyone have experience with having one of these robot dogs
| as a companion to a real dog? Could be useful for keeping the
| biodog happy.
| dade_ wrote:
| I recall watching videos of interactions with dogs. Dogs seem
| to hate them, then ignore them. It seems they aren't fooled,
| but I really enjoyed playing with one.
| rob74 wrote:
| Makes sense - after all dogs rely mostly on smell to identify
| other dogs, and the Aibo may look and behave more or less
| like a real dog, but it definitely doesn't smell like one...
| ctdonath wrote:
| I have an original AIBO. Left it on its charger, off, for a
| prolonged period after getting a real dog. Once the new puppy
| had acclimated to his new home after a month, I turned AIBO
| on.
|
| O.
|
| M.
|
| G.
|
| New puppy _freaked out_. So badly I never turned it on again.
| Imagine how _you_ would react if your chair just started
| wandering around by itself.
|
| Several dogs later, AIBO sits nearby - in want of a
| functioning battery. Anyone have pointers on finding original
| AIBO batteries?
| swiley wrote:
| I don't know what they're called, but they have dog runs
| supervised by professionals where you can drop your dog off to
| socialize. You might consider one of those.
| lordnacho wrote:
| Doggy day care is a thing. That's definitely something they
| enjoy, just wondering if a robodog would be useful.
| jazzyjackson wrote:
| There are some surprisingly well maintained and restored Aibos on
| eBay from 1999 onward, lots of really neat upgrades.
|
| Can anyone comment on the state of running your own code on these
| machines? I can't remember if I ever found homebrew tools, or
| what sdk Sony provides
| ourcat wrote:
| I seem to recall there being some activity around creating
| certain 'dances' etc. for it to perform. Though I can't
| remember how "offical" or "open" it was. Knowing Sony's MO at
| the time, probably not that much.
|
| Also, everything had to be stored on the Sony Memory Sticks.
| (And I seem to remember they too had to be a special type. Not
| 'Duo' though.)
| ngcazz wrote:
| Yep, the bots loaded your code from these (even more)
| overpriced Aibo-branded pink Memory Sticks
| ourcat wrote:
| That's right. It only read from the pink ones.
| ngcazz wrote:
| They were conceived with homebrew software in mind. Back in
| 2006 I had a uni assignment that involved programming Aibos to
| play soccer and I vaguely remember there being a relatively
| high-level FOSS SDK for them - if you didn't want to use Sony's
| C++ libraries (OPEN-R).
| ngcazz wrote:
| Just remembered what the SDK was called - Tekkotsu. Here's a
| paper on it: https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?d
| oi=10.1.1.39...
| jazzyjackson wrote:
| Who would you rather fight, one Boston dynamics big dog, or 100
| Sony aibos ?
| FartyMcFarter wrote:
| Pretty sure the Boston dynamics dog can knock me out with a
| blow to the head. So I'll take my chances with the Aibos.
| jordemort wrote:
| I used to desperately want one of these. Now I have a real dog,
| and I can't imagine a robot one being any fun at all. I also have
| a house and a yard and a family and a job that lets me stay at
| home these days, though; a robot dog probably would have fit
| better into my bachelor lifestyle than a real one.
| abawany wrote:
| I have the original (ERS-111) that I bought used - even for as
| old as primitive it now is, it was remarkably fun for its time
| and offered entertainment without the complications of an
| actual dog (vet visits, pet deposits, etc.) Now it sits since
| the battery pack has died again and I don't want to deal with
| replacing it but I do miss it.
| speed_spread wrote:
| And yet I still want a Nabaztag.
| thih9 wrote:
| > we lived in a building that did not permit pets
|
| For those in the UK: since January 2021 there are new rules that
| make it easier to secure leases for people with pets. Also,
| issuing a blanket ban on pets is no longer allowed. Details:
| https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-standard-tenancy-agre...
| mellosouls wrote:
| Actual title:
|
| _A dog's inner life: what a robot pet taught me about
| consciousness_
| leancz wrote:
| I submitted it so, it was changed by someone else.
| notanzaiiswear wrote:
| I was just talking about Aibo a couple of days ago, because
| Huawei announced their CyberDog: https://www.engadget.com/xiaomi-
| cyberdog-robot-dog-141128369...
|
| I wonder how they will compare.
|
| The subscribtion model and cloud connection has so far also
| stopped me from getting an Aibo.
|
| I was reminded of the Vector bot by Anki, and very pleased to see
| that apparently it was saved from the insolvency of Anki by
| Digital Dreamlabs.
|
| The interesting part: while Vector originally was also cloud
| based like Aibo, Digital Dreamlabs now offers an "Escape Pod"
| that makes it possible to use Vector without the cloud (or with
| your own cloud):
| https://www.digitaldreamlabs.com/products/escape-pod
| whywhywhywhy wrote:
| Thought Vector was a charming idea but knew it was doomed
| because of the cloud requirement, glad someone fixed that so
| they didn't end up as landfill fodder.
|
| Good video from NYT about someone doing Aibo repair
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QYDpbLQ-To
| 2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote:
| Super-Toys Last All Summer Long
| racl101 wrote:
| These things were cute for about 10 minutes (in the year 2000)
| and then you gotta wonder why you spent all that money.
| mech422 wrote:
| Aibo is coming back? I haven't seen one in like 20 years ...
|
| I thought Sony stopped making them.
|
| First released in 1999 [1]! Wow..time flies
|
| 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIBO
| ezconnect wrote:
| They are big in Japan, some even have 4 of them in the house
| and they love them.
| dade_ wrote:
| They had one at the Sony experience center in NYC, so I was
| able to play with one. Far more advanced than the 20 year old
| ones. Covered in touch sensors, they are much more lifelike and
| natural acting than I expected. My favourite was the tricks,
| you make your hand into a gun and say play dead. And ha, I
| almost died laughing. Wonderful thing, but it is limited export
| as it uses a cellular plan in only a handful of countries. It
| is very expensive, it can't jump, but I still want one.
| elliekelly wrote:
| Why on earth does it need a cellular plan rather than Wifi?
| speed_spread wrote:
| Because the Internet of Things is not about Convenience to
| the Customer but Surveillance from the Supplier.
| Veen wrote:
| So you can take it for a walk?
| emsy wrote:
| Not going to walk with it doesn't seem very ...erm animal
| friendly.
| mech422 wrote:
| The one I saw back in the early 00s walked off the end of
| the conference table it was being shown off on :-)
|
| Perhaps its gotten better at walking since then...I mean,
| roomba's can avoid edges - so robot dogs should too,
| right?
| bellyfullofbac wrote:
| I guess for a seamless experience if you take it out of
| your home wifi range. It would be illusion-breaking if the
| dog displayed "Connectivity error" if you take it to your
| car.
| Inhibit wrote:
| It'd be pretty awesome if it scrolled across its chassis
| though.
| mech422 wrote:
| heh - they are cute...And after watching mini-cheetahs do
| backflips, the no jumping thing can seem limited.
|
| Supposedly we'll be seeing some chinese mini-cheetah clones
| soon at around $2k. That would make them quite a bit cheaper
| then the Aibo, and a potentially more capable hardware
| platform. Though, seems like the Aibo has the win on the
| software side.
| blacksmith_tb wrote:
| I think the new Xiaomi[1] fits that description? Still a
| little spendy, but compared to $75K for Boston Dynamics,
| not quite as far out of reach...
|
| 1: https://blog.mi.com/en/2021/08/10/xiaomi-launches-
| cyberdog-a...
| rwmj wrote:
| One thing that isn't very clear in the article is she seems to
| be talking about the reissued Aibo from 2017. Hence all the
| stuff about neural networks.
| mech422 wrote:
| yeah - It sounded like she didn't realize how far back the
| aibo's go..
|
| Though, the original Aibo's were supposed to have some AI and
| even cloud functions - learned behaviors and online
| 'journals' and pictures.
| quirkot wrote:
| The Aibo. Famous for indicating Roast Beef's transition from
| circumstances to confidence.
| http://achewood.com/index.php?date=11122004
| jpm_sd wrote:
| man why you even got to do a thing
| berberous wrote:
| The old ones look much cooler than the new model.
| tailspin2019 wrote:
| This was a great read.
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(page generated 2021-08-17 23:01 UTC)