AIBO Gets An Upgrade
Ah…AIBO, we love the cheeky metallic chappy. He’s (she’s?) less amusing than RoboSapien and less useful that a dustpan and brush. Still, we realise that we may be alone in liking dogs that have fur, like to go for walks and are actually alive, so for those of you who love your canines hard and shiny, here is news of an upgrade from Sony.
The software enhancement package enables AIBO to say more than 1,000 English words to communicate with its owner, in addition to recognizing many Spanish words and phrases for the first time. It now also has the ability for short term memory mapping, enabling AIBO to track the locations of its Energy Station, faces, walls, and its favourite place or toys much faster. The little blighter can even read you the latest RSS feeds.
The AIBO MIND 3 enables AIBO to talk back and express verbal communication with its owner using more than 1,000 words in English. Discerning the growing Hispanic population, AIBO can also now recognize approximately 30 Spanish words and phrases, including sientate (sit down) ven aqui (come here) and buen pero (good dog).
The new software allows for increased pet-like actions and motions for a more natural body language.
The AIBO Entertainment Player version 2.0, part of the AIBO MIND 3 Upgrade Kit, comes on a CD-ROM that easily loads onto a PC. Multiple features are incorporated into the updated software for increased functionality and an enhanced entertainment experience. Owners can monitor and manually control many of AIBO’s capabilities directly from their computer. The AIBO MIND Scope feature shows the owner objects that AIBO sees, shows its emotions and lets the owner know when it has recognized a person.
The champagne brown AIBO Entertainment Robot model ERS-7M3/T will sell for about $2,100. The pearl white and pearl black models (ERS-7M3/W and ERS-7M3/B, respectively) will both sell for about $2,000.
The AIBO MIND 3 Upgrade Kit for AIBO MIND 2 will be available for about
$90 and the AIBO MIND 3 Upgrade Kit for AIBO MIND will sell for about $100.
Add comment September 30th, 2005