Jindo/ARIN robodog eager to fill the AIBO void
We're pretty picky about the concept products that we bring you, and we're especially wary of anything that appears hand-drawn, but South Korean inventor Eungsang Park's claimant to the AIBO throne caught our eye for a wide variety of reasons (some good and some bad). Called either Jindo or ARIN (no one seems to be sure), this take on the robodog trumps Sony's dearly-departed by adding multimedia functionality (screen, speakers), realistic canine features, more horsepower, and, oddly enough, a sense of smell. Jindo/ARIN also sports numerous radios for communication and entertainment -- cellular, DMB, and WiFi (and probably WiBro), as far as we can tell -- along with a curiously-placed optical disk slot (or "room," as it were) and functional-but-silly joystick tail. It's pretty unlikely that you'll see this little guy frolicking around the local dog park anytime soon, but if you start spottting little piles of DVDs in the bushes, you'll know what's up.
[Via MobileMag]
