Aibo already chases an orange ball, and some robots can react to facial expressions.
In its seven-year run, the Aibo was the first mass-production cheap platform for robotics research.
FORBES: Reflections on Personal Robots, Backwards and Forwards
With the demise of the Aibo and QRIO, is there actually a market for personal robots?
FORBES: Reflections on Personal Robots, Backwards and Forwards
Beck says participants felt more comfortable and less lonely with Aibo, which means "pal" in Japanese.
The Aibo LM was designed by Katsura Moshino , world-renowned for his product design.
Sony has programmed Aibo to develop its personality as you interact with it.
"I'm going to register my owner's name, face and voice, " Aibo, Sony 's robotic dog, informed me.
Barely seven years later Sony announced that it would discontinue Aibo and several other personal robot products.
FORBES: Reflections on Personal Robots, Backwards and Forwards
Aibo will get "hungry" and then will start looking around for its energy recharging station (sold separately).
Sony says it will be able to handle orders for as many as 60, 000 Aibo robots a month.
Aibo can be adopted online at its Website or by calling the Aibo Adoption Hotline at 1-888-917-7669.
Sony's Aibo line of robot pets celebrates its third year with a new entry modeled on a pug.
It's kind of hard to tell whether the new Aibo is supposed to be a dog or cat.
Like the original Aibo, the robo-pet now acts happy when showered with attention and likes to be petted.
Unfortunately, you'll have to figure out how to configure Aibo's 64 MB memory stick to recognize your wireless network.
Aibo LM pups can also compose melodies with their owners or record JPEG images onto their Sony Memory Sticks.
Nor does it do tricks like Sony 's (nyse: SNY - news - people ) Aibo.
But what animal does Aibo, whose cartoonish gait uses 20 motors, most resemble?
And then there was the time Aibo lifted its leg to mark its territory near the majesty palm in my office.
If someone wants to mass-produce and sell them like Sony's massively successful Aibo robot dogs, Dilworth thinks that might be possible.
Of course, the other point behind all this gadgetry is that it makes Aibo more and more like a real dog.
But if Aibo does resemble a dog, it resembles an idealized one.
Sony (nyse: SNE - news - people ) has programmed Aibo to develop its personality as you interact with it.
Sony's take on robots is that they will initially be cute companions (Aibo means "companion"), with some practical uses possible down the road.
There's really only one downside to Sony's whole Aibo program: The company has portrayed the cute pseudo-creatures as the future of artificial intelligence.
Sony's Entertainment Robot America division sees Aibo as an entertainment platform somewhat akin to a video game system, with new features being constantly added.
The first Aibo became an MTV celebrity, appearing in a Janet Jackson video and on The Real World, the mother of American reality-based television.
Nevertheless, Aibo can do marvelous tricks with its pink ball and its bone (cleverly dubbed the "AIBOne"), and it can even stand on its head.
Some 45, 000 of the first-generation Aibo's flew off the shelf.
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