AIBO

This article is about the robotic pet. For the Japanese television series, see Aibō.
Aibo
ManufacturerSony Corporation
InventorSONY's Digital Creatures Lab and Toshitada Doi
CountryJapan
Year of creation1999; 25 years ago (1999)
TypeDog
PurposeEntertainment
Websitehttp://aibo.com

AIBO (stylized as aibo, abbreviated as 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 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AIBO and several other products in an effort to make the company more profitable.[5] Sony's AIBO customer support was withdrawn gradually, with support for the final ERS-7M3 ending in March 2013.[6] In July 2014, Sony stopped providing repairs for AIBO products and did not provide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]

  1. ^ "Sony Global - Press Release - Sony Develops OPEN-R Architecture for Entertainment Robots Demonstrates 4-legged robot prototypes based on the architecture". Archived from the original on 2012-12-02. Retrieved 2013-01-14.
  2. ^ "Sony Global - Press Release - Sony Launches Four-Legged Entertainment Robot "AIBO" Creates a New Market for Robot-Based Entertainment". Archived from the original on 2012-10-28. Retrieved 2013-03-10.
  3. ^ Ulanoff, Lance (2003-09-04). "Surprise! Sony's AIBO Is a Dog". Pcmag.com. Archived from the original on 2013-06-18. Retrieved 2013-03-10.
  4. ^ "2006 Inductees". The Robot Hall of Fame. Retrieved 2013-03-10.
  5. ^ "Sony Global - Q3 FY2005 Sony Group Earnings Announcement". Sony.net. 2006-01-26. Archived from the original on 2013-05-16. Retrieved 2013-03-10.
  6. ^ "Sony AIBO Europe - Official Website - Model-by-model breakdown". Sonydigital-link.com. Retrieved 2013-03-10.
  7. ^ "AIBO、君を死なせない 修理サポート終了「飼い主」の悲しみ〈AERA〉 （dot.）". Yahoo!ニュース. Archived from the original on 2014-07-29. Retrieved 2014-07-29.
  8. ^ Byford, Sam (2017-10-31). "Sony just announced a new Aibo robot dog; The Verge". Technologyreview.com.
  9. ^ Rajamanickam Antonimuthu (2017-11-02), Sony's Aibo Robot Dog returns with advanced AI, archived from the original on 2021-12-11, retrieved 2017-11-15
  10. ^ Alam, Imran (2018-02-02). "Sony AIBO - Robotic Dog". Answerslave.com.