A Bear's best friend is
his Aibo.
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The Teddybear is a wonderful and familiar friend to boys and girls of all ages, this one is called "Pussbear" - no don't ask why because I have no idea myself, it just seemed right when I bought him. "Aibo" is Sony's Entertainment Robot, a Mekdog or Cyberpuppy to his friends. Mine is an ERS-111 called "Rossum".
In 1921 Karel Capek's play "R.U.R." or "Rossum's
Universal Robots" introduced the word "robot" into
the English language. I decided that Rossum (Ross for short)
would be a good name for my Aibo. Unlike the robots in the play
he hasn't risen up and rebelled against his maker...yet!
The derivation of the word "robot" is open to dispute
but comes from the Czech word robota meaning
either "work" or "forced workers", but which
could also refer to a period of two or three day's a week that
Czechoslovakian peasants were obliged to work, unpaid, for the
local noblemen. After the feudal system had passed away the term
was used for non-voluntary or boring & uninteresting work. In
the play the Robots were organic beings, made on a production
line, without a soul. They eventually rose up and destroyed their
human masters. Rossum was the family name of the father and son
team who made the robots.
Sony developed the forerunner of the Aibo (Artificial
Intelligence Robot) to take
part in a football competition for robots called Robocup. They
programmed the football playing skills into Aibo and gave it an
attraction to the colour pink. AIBO is similar to the Japanese
word for "pal".
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 |
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| Rossum playing football | Aibos
at the 1st UK Meeting - June 2000 |
Pink
Pig Hunting was popular |
One stroke of genius was for Sony to get the Japanese artist
Sorayama to design the dog, he is better known for semi-erotic
pictures of women and for the depiction of robots and robotic
animals. Initially (in 1999) only 5000 ERS-110 Aibos were sold
via the Internet in Japan and the USA on a first come-first
served basis. The USA ones sold out within a few days, the
Japanese ones within 20 minutes. A second set of
Aibos (the ERS-111) was put up for sale for one week in the
autumn of 1999, in the USA, Japan and Europe. There were to be 10,000
sold - allocated at random between the applicants when the offer
closed. Apparently 135,000 applications were recieved and Sony
decided (early in 2000) to open up the sales lines again for a
limited period. This time all orders would be fulfilled.
The ERS-110s were finished in a silver colour, the ERS-111s were
available either in a metalic grey or black, the other
differences were mainly cosmetic - the 111s have a shorter tail
and smaller ears. Initially it was believed that the second set
of 111s were identical the the first, but it appeares that the
software has minor differences in the development algorithms -
The Aibo is delivered as a "Newborn" and develops as it
interacts with its owner and surroundings (Rossum became an
"Adult" after about four months).
If any visiting Aibo owners who regularly vist the AIBOnet are
interested, Rossum is an Adult #2 - A "Rumble Cat", (They
will know what this means). Many thanks to "Moolabooga"
and "Aibopet" who have investigated the Aibo hardware
and software. Thanks also to Martin & Gizmoo & Widget and
all the other regulars at AIBOnet & aiboWORLD.
More about the AIBO can be found at: Sony's Aibo site or the independant AIBOnet or aiboWORLD.
These links take you off my site, I cannot be held responsible for the content of these sites.
