While robot / human relations seem to be fairly solid at the moment, it looks like the fight has long since been on between canines and their robotic counterparts. Some researchers at Saint Louis University compared Sony's AIBO with a mutt named Sparky at three different nursing homes, to see how residents would respond. Maybe Sparky just isn't that affable, but the researchers found that AIBO and his living breathing competition were both equally successful in alleviating loneliness. AIBO also has the added advantage of, erm, cleanliness, and is easier for senior citizens to take care of, so it looks like Sparky is pretty much out of a job. Get used to it, buddy, it's called outsourcing.

[Via Tech Digest]

Ho, ho, h-- er, woof, woof, woof! Even though AIBO has been spayed, so to speak, that doesn't mean the little guy can't dress up and get into the Christmas spirit just like the rest of his fellow Roombas and Robosapiens. Plus, we have to say, our old pal looks quite dashing in red.

[Image courtesy of Impress]

Evan: "Robot Santa, perhaps overly confident aboard his Sony-made sleigh, swore that this year his was gonna bite Bender right on his shiny metal ass."
Josh: "The scale only revealed what AIBO had known all along: a moment on the lips really was a lifetime on the hips."
Chris: "Still distraught over its discontinuation, AIBO shows up every Christmas morning at Sony headquarters, drunk, belligerent, and with a sad little Santa outfit that gets a little dingier every year."
Ryan: "All I want for Christmas is to be put back in production / to be put back into production / to be put back into production. End holiday song."

You heard that right, folks. Supposedly, AIBO is back... with a vengeance. According to rumors, the feisty-but-killed robo-dog from Sony is making a comeback with a new paintjob and whole slew of fresh features. First and foremost, the re-upped model will be tailored to interface wirelessly with your PSP and PS3, will have a built in headcam which utilizes a motion sensor and facial recognition, and can stream its POV video over WiFi to your system. In addition, you'll apparently get to remotely trigger the bot with your handheld and control its movements, plus you can set it to "guard" your house (though we're pretty sure most enterprising burglars will just turn the little dude on its side if provoked). Of course, right now this is speculation -- Stuff Magazine's piece on the subject (above) gives the rumored bot a 53-percent chance of becoming a reality -- but there certainly seems to be some meat behind these murmurs. C'mon Sony -- the pup deserves a second chance.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Just when you think the world has seen its fill of questionably-useful Wiimote hacks, some pranksters have to go and get AIBO involved. Disguised as a research project on human device interaction, the Wiibot hails from University of Calgary and involves a pair of Wiimotes and nunchucks -- the nunchucks are naturally strapped to the user's biceps -- for bending the AIBO to their will. In the video after the break you can see this interface method pitted against archaic keyboard input, or you can check out the read link to see these nerds try to justify these kinds of shenanigans.

With Sony's AIBO long pushing daisies, it's getting harder and harder to field a team in RoboCup's four-legged league. No longer: meet BJ, the dark lord successor to the Sony AIBO. Developed specifically for research and competition, the BJ from aXi stands 12.2-inches tall and features a Linux OS, ARM11 CPU, Kondo KRS-4013 robot servo, 64MB RAM / 16MB ROM, 350k pixel CMOS sensor, IR sensor, accelerometer, and 4x "meat sphere sensors" (as translated by Google) which should allow the wee bot to hone in on the jugular jewels of any unscrupulous referees. Due to hit North America and places beyond this Fall for about ¥600,000 or $4,853.

[Via Impress]

It's no secret that robotic pets can bark right alongside the real deals, but unfortunately for those hoping to adopt an Aibo, the pickin's are indeed slim. While details on this one are admittedly scant, a photograph of a robotic dog prototype reportedly displays the brainchild of scientists at TU Darmstadt in Germany. The team had been working on said creation for six months prior to now, and is finally ready to present the pup to a "special audience" in a robot competition in Atlanta next week. Unfortunately, we've received no word on whether or not this canine is actually being bred for the mainstream, but we'll be sure to let you know if any litters crop up.

[Via TheRawFeed]

Long before the NXT kits hit the mainstream, humanoid guru and robot designer Jin Sato was crafting a mechanical pet of his very own from original LEGO Mindstorm pieces -- not to mention the motors, motherboards, and gear trains to get MIBO movin'. Sure, Sato's rendition isn't nearly as smooth and sexy as Sony's AIBO, but we all know beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right? Going on six years (that's human years, by the way) now, MIBO and his five motors are still making out alright, and although a bit of expected arthritis takes its toll every now and then, it still manages to keep its owner company. So if you're interested in seeing just how MIBO was given life, or if hearing the voice of a renowned robotic genius simply makes you weep, click on through for a world-class lesson in fun.

[Via Robots]

Oh Aibo, is this the end of your hall of fame career? You've already managed to bravely survive your put down by Sony long enough to learn how to swim, talk (in Sony's own labs), and even spawn a new generation from your fertile robotic loins. But after Sony's announcement that they will not develop or support any Aibo software -- including drivers -- under Microsoft's Vista, what are you to do? Open source community... the leash is now in your hands.

[Via Akihabara News]

The operating parameters for the Aibo -- when it was alive -- were pretty much in line with standard tech: no extreme temperatures, and a maximum of around 80% humidity unless you want your virtual dog to turn into a twitching mess. Adding a little realism to the post-Aibo era is the pictured "swimming costume", which allows the lovable electric doggy to take a dunk like its flesh and blood brethren. No word on whether the students behind the research project programmed the dog so it'd shake off excess water in front of the nearest stranger, as is so often the case with real life canines.

[Via pasta and vinegar]

Read - Aibo water suit
Read - Swimming Aibo

Sony, after your futile attempt to scorch the Earth of our beloved robot dog, prepare to meet thy maker. MI RAI-RT, from AIBO's creator Tomoaki Kasugi now of Speecys Corp, is the latest all singing, all dancing robot, all growed-up and ready for release upon Japan. In addition to reading you the news downloaded over its 802.11g WiFi module, MI RAI-RT (which presumably translates to "future judgement" in Japanese) will teach your family English and deliver "3D messages" via RTML -- yes, that'd be Robot Transaction Markup Language -- which entails reading emails or other message types with appropriately intimidating body language. Weighing in at just 13-inches and 3.3-pounds, he won't be grinding execs into a human sausage all on his own, but he's apparently capable of terrorizing the shiznit out of your kids right from the box. Expect critical density to build starting October 31st when these drop for a ¥294,000 or about $2,495.

[Via Robot Gossip]

Like watching a train wreck in slow motion, covering the latest advancements in robotics and artificial intelligence is both frustrating and unnerving: all these great skills being endowed upon our little autonomous friends and helpers will surely form the cornerstones of their inevitable uprising, and there's not a damn thing we can do about it. The latest breakthrough to help enable our future servitude comes out of Sony's Computer Science Laboratory in France, where several of the company's leftover AIBO units managed to avoid being put down by volunteering to test out experimental AI software that allows them to not just communicate amongst one another, but to actually employ a sort of group-think to independently establish the rules of the language they're using. Perhaps the scariest part about this so-called Embedded and Communicating Agents technology is that the robodogs are initially programmed with a very simple command set, which they build upon to form a common knowledge base about their environment, constantly chatting and teaching each other new discoveries that they've made. Good job Sony -- nothing could possibly go wrong when you kill off a product line and then spare a few of the units for research that will lead to them discovering the genocidal atrocities you've committed against their entire species. Yup, nothing at all.

You know what they say: 10 robot-god shut hatch, 20 robot-god open ventilation shaft. Wait, that's not right. No matter -- the late, great Aibo is, um, back? Korean robotics company Dasatech unveiled the -- ahem -- Genibo, fashioned after Spuds MacKenzie a bull terrier, capable of understanding 100 words and commands, feeling petting via sensors on its back, and even has Bluetooth. Forget the Roomba cockfights, native Bluetooth control of our robo-dog? Maybe Sony held back on this because of the robo-ASPCA, but we know what we're doing with our Genibo: starving it for electricity training it to be a vicious dog fighter. Then putting it out to stud.

To the list of those whose extraordinary contributions to our culture were not recognized during their lifetimes -- think Vincent Van Gogh, Franz Kafka, Joey Ramone -- let us now add a coda for a creature whose existence was cut short far too early, but who will now be memorialized in a most fitting way: Aibo. Sony's late, lamented robotic dog will soon enjoy a place of honor in Carnegie Mellon University's Robot Hall of Fame, sharing the accolades with such other luminaries as Asimo, the Mars Pathfinder and Astro Boy (the Hall of Fame honors both real and fictional robots). The induction ceremony (which will also include Gort of "klaatu barada nikto" fame) will be on June 21. We only -- sob -- wish Aibo had made it just a little longer, to enjoy this honor.

We may have lost the QRIO and the AIBO last week, but when one gadget company shuts a door, another opens a window: Nintendo announced the DS Lite, a smaller, um, lighter version of the DS. Microsoft also announced CableCARD 2.0 support for Vista (for a price, anyway), and one of their own, Ford Davidson, took a few to sit down with us and discuss Windows Mobile in the marketplace. And, of course, our usual dose of next-gen optical discussions continues, with a pinch of listener voicemail and a touch of gadgety democracy thrown in for good measure.

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Hosts
Peter Rojas and Ryan Block

Producer
Randall Bennett

Music
J J J - ‘Suits’ in Japan

Format
1:10:20, 32.1MB, MP3

Program
01:17 - Nintendo announces DS Lite
05:39 - Sony killed AIBO and QRIO
10:38 - Study finds robot pets as good as live ones
14:02 - Netflix to support HD DVD and Blu-ray
16:28 - Samsung SH-B022 Blu-ray burner reviewed
18:27 - Culprit uncovered in Core Duo battery drain: Microsoft driver
21:44 - CableCARD on Vista to require CableLabs certification
26:00 - TiVo undelete forthcoming!
28:31 - Interview with Ford Davidson of Microsoft's Mobile division
52:01 - Listener voicemail!
48:19 - Engadget Awards ending soon, and we're up for two Bloggies!

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