One of the greatest sources of comfort and happiness for us comes from having a pet, such as a dog. Its warmth, its touch, and the bonds you form with it are all some of the things that make your relationship with a pet special. You’re probably thinking that the same feelings could never be replicated by a robot with hard metal or plastic on the outside instead of fur, and programmed emotions instead of real feelings. You might be right, but that hasn’t stopped people from creating robotic pets.
Originally created back in 1999 by Sony, the Aibo (meaning “partner” in Japanese) is a robotic dog about a foot long and nine inches tall. It was updated and sustained until 2006, when Sony discontinued it, but they reopened the project in 2017, creating a new generation of Aibo. At first it was only available in Japan, but it has been purchasable in the United States (for about $2900) for several months now.
Packed with sensors, cameras, and actuators, it can walk around, change its facial expressions, and make eye contact with humans. Sensors and touch panels allow it to react to being petted, and it will make noises accordingly. A camera in Aibo’s nose even lets it recognize people in the family it’s “living” with, and it will act more friendly to people it recognizes as taking care of it and playing with it.
Yes, the Aibo can also play. It can follow commands to sit, it can shake your hand, and it can also fetch a bone (an aibone). It uses its camera to find the bone, align itself, and pick it up in its mouth. The Aibo operates on a battery life of about 2 hours, and a camera in its rear lets it locate its charging port and charge itself.
The main practical purpose of Aibo is that it may be able to provide the companionship of a real dog to an elderly person who is unable to take care of a real dog by themself. At Purdue University’s Center for the Human-Animal Bond, studies are being performed to see whether the Aibo can provide some of the same health benefits as a dog would to the elderly. Although even the researchers themselves were skeptical about how effective a robot dog would be, many of the elderly people began to relate to Aibo and treat it more as a real dog after a few weeks. Many people soon created bonds with Aibo and thought of it as something worth nurturing and talking to.
To analyze its success, the researchers kept track of the number and type of interactions the people had with it, as well as their facial expressions while interacting. Although it’s still too early to see whether or not the Aibo caused any health benefits, it’s certainly an interesting approach to improve both the lives and health of elderly people, and perhaps one day regular families as well.
Perfect, this is exactly what kind of invention was looking for. Since basically all of my family is allergic to furry little friends, this is what will finally allow me to get a dog! Once they make the robot more fluid and less jittery, I would definitely consider purchasing such a small adorable little creature to call my friend.
I think this is really cool as a toy but I don’t know if it can really replace a real dog. There is something about them that is special that I don’t think a robot can replicate.
I think my cousins had a much less technologically advanced version of this growing up. He was really into science and robots and he had a mechanical dog that looked like this. It could walk and “bark” but that was about it. While I think this a cool invention, I don’t think Aibo could replace the bond between a human and a real dog.
For years when I was younger I begged my parents for a dog. And for years they would just get me a stuffed animal dog to distract me until I asked again. The last time before I convinced them to get our actually dog my mom bought me a remote control dog that did flips. Now obviously Aibo is much more advanced but from personally experience a toy dog can’t compare to a real dog.