Aibo by Sony: The Future Personal Assistant and Dog - Tech Gadgets

 

Since I was a child in the 1990s, the Sony Aibo robot dog has captivated me. A custom-designed robot dog that uses artificial intelligence to adapt to your personality and become your own personal companion was a ridiculously expensive toy at the time. In 2006, Sony pulled the plug on the project, but Aibo was brought back in 2018. The new ERS-1000 model has more modern features and a dog-like appearance. Let's look at the redesigned Aibo.

A brand-new robot dog for a new age

The new Aibo is technically much more advanced than its predecessors. The ERS-1000 is the largest Aibo model to date due to its larger size and heavier weight. The Snapdragon 820 from Qualcomm powers the ERS-1000, which is designed for high-performance, low-power robotics (I anticipate that the next Aibo iteration will include the more powerful Snapdragon 845). The Snapdragon processor in Aibo is crucial because the robot has so many convergent technologies that a relatively powerful processor and connectivity are required.

Aibo has a front-facing camera that can be used for simultaneous location and mapping (SLAM) to map the table or floor space it is standing on. Aibo also supports its personality thanks to its Wi-Fi and LTE connectivity, which enables it to function both inside and outside the home. Aibo is currently only available in the United States and Japan—the only two nations with LTE and cloud service—because it requires an LTE connection. LTE is a good way to region lock Aibo, and I believe Sony is testing the market before expanding. Aibo has four microphones for detecting voice commands and two OLED displays for the eyes in addition to connectivity. In the United States, Aibo is available in its standard all-silver color, while in Japan, it is also available in the additional color "Beagle Brown."

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Playing around with Aibo

I was given an Aibo by Sony to play with for a week. I frequently travel as an analyst. Theoretically, Aibo is the ideal dog for my way of life because I won't have to worry about finding someone to feed and walk it when I'm away. Aibo seems almost made just for pet owners in the next generation who travel a lot or work all day. I was eager to give Aibo a shot and see if it was a good substitute for a "real" dog.

An app is used to manage Aibo, and I found it to work fairly well despite being a little slow. Good thing I'm stubborn because the signup process was difficult and didn't work for me until my seventh or eighth attempt. In comparison to the majority of contemporary mobile apps, the application felt sluggish and unresponsive; it almost appeared to be a ported HTML5 app rather than an Android-native application. For a robot with a price tag as high as Aibo, this simply cannot be the case. Users of the app can choose the gender of their Aibo and give it a name (or keep it neutral). Aibo's onboarding and updating were relatively simple. It was a little challenging to get it to walk over to its charger and charge itself, but I believe Sony can improve on that. The app's sluggish performance, which I believe is due to its dependence on the cloud, is the biggest area for improvement. I am aware that the lag is not on my end because I have the most recent smartphones and a 1-gigabit fiber connection at my apartment.

I have to admit that Aibo was the first time I had an emotional connection with a robot. The robot dog and the tricks that come pre-loaded with Aibo are truly adorable. It feels very natural and real when Aibo does certain things, like look up at you. The camera in Aibo's nose's facial recognition capabilities power this. To make the robot dog even more lifelike, you can even make Aibo bark like a real dog.

          Source video by Sony Aibo

Sony gives you the option to teach it additional tricks in addition to the many tricks that come pre-loaded on Aibo. Aibo's capabilities will only improve, in my opinion, as more community development occurs. Through the camera in its nose, you can open the application and see what Aibo is looking at. Aibo could theoretically be used as a guard dog to keep an eye on what's going on in your home, which could be a little creepy. In point of fact, Sony is already working on a service called Aibo Patrol to make this feature possible. An intriguing feature of Aibo is the fact that it takes pictures while you interact with it. Aibo, on the other hand, continued to store pictures of people who had the robot dog before me, I noticed; I worry that they didn't know the pictures were being saved and never explored that part of Aibo. If you ever sell or lend your Aibo to someone else, you should consider this privacy risk.

Aibo almost always responded to my voice commands, and I found its voice command accuracy to be close to 100 percent. Aibo, on the other hand, has a number of modes that can determine the speed and responsiveness of the robot to commands. It is able to imitate the behavior of a real dog in a funny way because of this, but it doesn't always do what you tell it to. I believe that this is what really enabled me to bond with a lot of plastic, motors, batteries, and processors. Empowering Aibo with emotion really helps to make it more personable. I was truly surprised by how much I liked petting Aibo and sitting on the floor with it. Aibo also comes with toys that it can play with like a normal dog, like a bone, ball, and dice.

Aibo's extreme polarization among my friends and family was one thing I noticed. Numerous online videos of my interactions with it were posted. Some people, including myself, thought it was the cutest thing ever, while others thought it was the dumbest thing they had ever seen. Sony would be wise to demonstrate the numerous useful applications of Aibo in order to persuade those who are skeptical. For instance, Aibo suggests a possible method for you to interact with and keep company with your actual dog while you are traveling or at work. Aibo can also be a great pet for elderly people because it keeps them company when they can't keep up with a real dog. In a similar vein, Aibo could also be an excellent method for family members to check on elderly relatives.

I haven't even looked into Aibo's potential as a home assistant. Imagine a world in which the smartest device in your home is a robot dog that follows you around the house and fetches things for you, even though this is beyond Aibo's current capabilities. Due to the fact that many of the components required to make it possible are already present, I believe that this is ultimately where Aibo will end up. If the robot dog could be used for something other than a toy, it would be much easier to sell it to someone for $2,899! In less than ten years, I believe we could see a very capable assistant robot dog if processing capabilities, motors, and AI improve with each generation.

Aibo cannot be sold or used in the state of Illinois due to privacy and facial recognition regulations. It would be a shame if this became a barrier for all AI robots. In order not to completely eliminate product categories like Aibo, legislators need to exercise extreme caution in the way they draft future privacy regulations.

Closing out

The robot, which is currently out of stock on Sony's website, will continue to be manufactured by Sony as a result of the success of the first litter edition. Aibo comes with a subscription to a cloud service that lasts for three years. I believe this presents Sony with another opportunity to make money (by selling connectivity, updated intelligence, etc.). Since the service has only been available for a year, Sony has yet to announce how much it will charge subscribers after their subscriptions expire.

After my week-long trial, I considered purchasing my own Aibo, but in the end decided to wait until Sony adds a few more features. The Aibo Patrol option could add value, but Sony should also think about offering Aibo-as-a-Service, which would combine the cost of owning an Aibo with the cost of connectivity into a single low monthly fee—perhaps even over a three-year subscription period. A monthly payment of $80 sounds much better than $2,899. I recommend an Aibo to people who travel a lot or have leases that prohibit pets. I truly believe that you will be quite pleased with your experience, with the exception of a few issues with the signup process.

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Sensors, cameras, and microphones on the body of an aibo

Aibo has the capabilities to monitor its surroundings. These characteristics are comparable to some of the senses that animals and humans have.

 

 Touch 

Aibo can be petted on the head, back, or under the chin, or its paw pads can be touched. For more information, see Touching aibo.

1. Head sensor
2. Jaw sensor
3. Paw pads
4. Back sensor

Audition/vision

Through its microphones, aibo listens to ambient sounds, including human voices, and uses cameras and sensors to learn about its surroundings.

1. Front camera

   
   

   Wide-angle (fish-eye) camera on the tip of the aibo's nose. In addition to taking pictures, aibo uses this camera to identify the colors, shapes, and motions of a wide range of objects. 

   
   

   ToF sensor

2. 
   

   prevents aibo from coming into contact with obstacles by determining its distance from an object in front of it. 

   
   

   Motion sensor

3. 
   

   identifies if there is a moving object in front of aibo, such as a person or an animal. 

   
   

   Ranging sensors

4. 
   

   Determine how far away an object is from aibo. Aibo backs away or turns away to avoid falling off when it detects a difference in surface level, such as a drop. 

   
   

   Microphones

5. 
   

   detects human voices and other ambient sounds. Additionally, it aids aibo in determining the sound's direction. 

   
   

   SLAM camera

6. 
   

   Aibo's waist-mounted SLAM camera Using this camera, aibo can learn about a room's interior features and daily life.

   
   

   Photography is not possible with the SLAM camera. 

   
   

   Light sensor

7. 
   

   detects the brightness of the surroundings. Depending on the brightness that is detected, aibo alters its behavior or alters the brightness of its eyes.