Sony's Aibo robot will now greet you at the front door

Sony’s robotic Aibo pup continues to learn new tricks. Thanks to a new software update, the android companion will now predict when you come home and sit patiently at the front door. Or that’s the idea, anyway. According to Sony’s website, you’ll first need to assign a meeting place — the entrance to your front home — by saying a phrase like “this is where you should go.” Aibo should then lower its head and ‘sniff’ the ground to indicate that it’s storing the location. If the process is successful, a door icon should appear on the map located inside the companion app.

From that point onwards, Aibo will theoretically walk up and say hello every time you open the front door and say “I’m home.” With time, the adorable robot should learn when you tend to come home and start waiting at the door in preparation, just like a flesh-and-bone canine would.

It’s not the first time that Aibo’s software has been updated. Last November, the company released firmware 2.5 with “several new whimsical capabilities,” such as potty training and virtual cookie feeding, alongside a web-based interface that lets you program custom actions.

These patches will be welcomed by the people who have already spent $2,900 on the pet. When the robot was first announced, Sony vowed that it would ‘grow up’ and develop new behaviour, tricks and habits over time. It's nice to see that the company hasn’t abandoned that commitment and wound down the project like so many startup-built home robots. Because, as the saying goes: a [mechanical] dog is for life, not just for Christmas.