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Aibo – A new story begins
- biztos 8y agoI like how it scratches itself, implying that Sony has leapfrogged the competition in miniaturization and invented the Robot Flea.
- bgun 8y agoDogs scratching themselves is common and not necessarily an indicator of having fleas.
- scrumption 8y agoHumor is commonly used by Humons to attempt to connect with one another and distract themselves from the inherent absurdity of their lives; you need not necessarily interpret their communication entirely literally when you have a suspicion that they may be employing Humor.
- _bxg1 8y agoI'm amazed it's taken this long for things like this to make a comeback, now that neural-net tech has progressed so far. Being able to develop a complex relationship with an ML system rather than just a handful of floating parameters sounds pretty interesting (yes, I know that's technically what neural nets are underneath, but the point holds).
- agumonkey 8y agoIn 2007 a funny teacher bought a pair and made us write meta DSLs for Aibo. According to the industry it was advanced but in terms of robotics it was so damn primitive.. and for today ML (and note U-ML, we used their MOF) is probably incomensurably better.
- tzahola 8y agoIts movements are really slow and choppy. I bet it can’t even run... The uncanny valley is not even in sight. I guess I’m going back to this week’s Westworld...
- mynameisvlad 8y agoDamn, even years later it's still prohibitively expensive. 198k yen (~2k USD) and 90k yen (~900 USD) lifetime or 2980 yen (~30 USD) per month for the "basic plan" which is required for the AI services.
- magissima 8y agoWhat in the world is the market for this?
- pg_bot 8y agoRobotic pets are often used in therapy for people with dementia. http://www.parorobots.com/ http://www.parorobots.com/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFvGAL9tesM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFvGAL9tesM
- GuiA 8y agoJapanese people who would love to have a dog but can’t because they live in a tiny apartment/would have no time for it.
- unicornporn 8y agoJapan, the country where mp3 playing toilets was a huge hit.
- jug 8y agoLonely Japanese people. https://world.wng.org/2017/11/lonely_in_japan https://world.wng.org/2017/11/lonely_in_japan
- chaostheory 8y agoThat does seem to be a lot of money for what seems to be just a gadget. However, it's more than that. It's a robot substitute for a dog. The estimated cost of owning a real dog over its lifetime is approximately $27,000 - $42,000. It's hard not to think of Do Androids Dream of Human Sheep when I see Aibo
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- saudioger 8y agoI wonder if the aging population of Japan had anything to do with the comeback. The NYT did a really nice video feature on the Aibo fan following a while back, the elderly couple featured must be pretty excited https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/18/technology/robotica-sony-aibo-robotic-dog-mortality.html?src=twr&smid=tw-nytimes&_r=0 https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/18/technology/robotica-sony-...
- DrNuke 8y agoIt does not smell or sh*t which will make million households happy.
- asciimo 8y agoAnd it can't suffer.
- jimmies 8y ago>Every new face is another friend to be made >learns the environment >aibo [...] constantly updating its data in the cloud >apps Hey sorry to be a cynical brat, but does this imply that it's just another Internet-of-Sting like the Roomba-style robot from Xiaomi (a backdoor mapping agent)? As it costs like 1000 USD, it better not pull that kind of bullshit. But how do I know? Trust is a huge factor here, and what Sony shows here doesn't impress me a bit. The page does not say anything about data and privacy protection. If Sony does not directly do it, how does Sony vet the third party apps to make sure third party apps don't pull that kind of bullshit? The last thing I want to hear is to get a blackmail from a $1000 robotic dog, you know. "Last Tuesday, you listened to a pirated CD from Sony. Your dog has accidentally used that CD for a toy while you're busy making love with the housemaid."
- federicoponzi 8y agoI had the same exact though. This is just crazy - it is also able to take pictures and upload them to the cloud.
- blacksmith_tb 8y agoI can't find anything that claims Xiaomi vacuums are spying on us (would maps of rugs be useful to collect?) Do you have a reference?
- falcolas 8y agoI remember reading that the latest Roomba vacuums were uploading their movement patterns to the cloud to "optimize the cleaning experience". I don't personally have a reference. A set of highly detailed house maps, with strong indicators of the traffic patterns (via dirt detection) and pet ownership (abnormally high volumes of shortish hair; tends to clog filters faster), would be exceptionally useful as input to your advertising profile.
- ASalazarMX 8y agoI have the feeling Roombas aren't capable of dirt-diving yet, even if paired with the cloud.
- ChrisArchitect 8y agonot new, wasn't this from november 2017?
- ChrisArchitect 8y agohttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15598783 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15598783
- en4bz 8y agoI hope AIBO RoboCup soccer returns as a result.
- galfarragem 8y agoProbably I'm not their market target, but what for do I want a Aibo? I prefer a real dog. What most people crave is a robotic servant.
- asciimo 8y agoRobots can emulate enough personality to offer low-maintenance companionship. Even Alexa and Google Assistant become part of the family, to some degree. Maybe Aibo provides a fraction of what you're looking for in an animal companion, but it's enough for some people.
- javiramos 8y agoThe videos in the website have such a dystopian feel.
- ramgorur 8y agoTo folks who are complaining the trade-off between it's price and what it does offer: this dog is more about a robotic toy with animatronics similar to that of spot-mini than a cloud powered AI (i.e. siri/cortana/google). You are buying an AI powered hollywood level animatronic toy for 2 grands, I wouldn't say this is too expensive.
- gene-h 8y agoI wouldn't say that it's on par with with a spot mini. Walking and movement seems pretty slow and rough. It's really too bad that advancements in actuator technology haven't made it into consumer robots.
- earenndil 8y agoIs it just me or does this look mildly terrifying? IMO, this is solidly in uncanny valley territory.