The new Sony Aibo’s outward appearance resembles a real dog and it includes 4,000 parts, 22 actuators to allow for fluid movement, OLED-screen eyes, and the same kind of artificial intelligence (Al) used for self-driving cars. Its sophisticated cameras and sensors map a house, so it can easily move around and go to its charging station on its own. It recognizes upto 100 faces and remembers interactions with people, allowing its AI engine to develop a unique personality that changes over time. Aibo can learn new tricks, bark, detect words of praise and smiles, and respond to touch when someone pets it. It is controlled by voice command or through the Aibo app. Its software is naturally curious and trained to please, letting it learn a user’s preferences and eventually become a one-of-a-kind companion.
The new robot dog is also equipped with a fisheye camera in the nose and a second camera near the rear that both work with sensors to detect and analyze sounds and images, and help aibo recognize its owners faces. Simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) technology allows aibo to adapt to its environment.
Controlling all of this is a 64-bit quad-core CPU. The robot’s power consumption is rated at 14 watts and the battery has a life of about 2 hours.
According to Izumi Kawanishi, Sony’s senior general manager of its AI Robotics Business Group, this combination of sensors and deep learning also helps aibo analyze praise, interpret smiles, and respond to petting, which creates “a bond with its owners that can grow over time.”
A SIM card connection provides aibo with mobile Internet access, which Sony plans to extend to connect to home appliances and devices. And Kawanishi said the company was also considering educational and personal assistant applications for aibo, but he gave no examples of how those would work. He added that other entertainment robots were a possibility in the future.
Credit : IEEE Spectrum
Picture Credit : Google
