The rumors[1] had it right: Sony is rebooting its robot dog, Aibo[2], announcing a new four-legged companion AI-powered bot incoming with the same brand name but more rounded corners and visible facial features for extra kawaii, including a pair of expressive, puppy-dog eyes.
Deep learning tech, fish-eye cameras and a series of other embedded sensors enable Aibo to detect and analyze sounds and images so that it can learn and respond to its environment and interact with its owner so it appears less, well, robotic.
Sony claims Aibo’s adaptive behavior includes being able to actively seek out its owners; detect words of praise; smiles; head and back scratches; petting, and more.
Thanks to the embedded cameras you can also instruct Aibo to take a photo for you — should you want a dog’s eye view of yourself/your home life.
“Aibo’s AI learns from interactions with its owners and develops a unique personality over time,” it writes[3]. “Further, with its owners’ permission, aibo can collect data from these interactions, then connect to the cloud and access the knowledge accumulated from interactions between different owners and their aibo to become even more clever.”
So, basically, if you’re comfortable installing a roaming camera, microphone and location sensing device in your home that’s designed to watch your every action, listen to what you’re saying and upload all this intel to the cloud to yield new programming instructions so the device changes how it acts around you in a pantomime of intelligence — this could be the artificial pet for you.
Alternatively, you could make like Sebastian Thrun [4]and become the proud owner of a real life puppy.
But if Aibo’s hairless lines and plastic smells...