Word: aibo
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...experiences rank as high on the surrealism meter as being asked to judge a robot dog contest. In following the cyber-pooch in question - AIBO, or Artificial Intelligence 'Bot - for two years now, I've seen Sony's high-end consumer toy go from a $2,500 limited-edition fad to a relatively mass-market, mass-produced $1,500 fad. But what transpired last Saturday afternoon at the Sony Metreon, San Francisco's massive multiplex and temple to all things techno, made me believe AIBO is leaving the realm of novelty and entering the living room and hearts...
Calkins is one of 5,000 Americans who have shelled out $2,750 for a special edition Sony Aibo robot dog, which makes you understand a little better why he ends his e-mails with the tag line: "Silicon shall replace carbon. The revolution will be automated." When he was a kid, Calkins owned a German shepherd, but that was before he discovered computers. Now he works at an Internet firm, dotes on his pet robot and in his spare time serves as president of the Robotics Society of America...
...While Aibo is a hit in Japan among companionship-starved salarywomen, it sells best to techie guys in the U.S. That doesn't surprise Calkins. "Most normal Americans are still afraid of machines," he says. "But the Japanese are far more comfortable letting robots into their homes." For her part, Fionne seems pretty relaxed about the hyperkinetic puppy scuttling about her turf - even when Gibson begins flashing his angry red eyes. While Calkins whips a remote control out of his trench coat and frantically fingers the buttons, trying to appease his irate robot, Fionne yawns, stretches out and settles down...
...Blame it on Furby, the furry noisemaker that came out two years ago and sold more than 40 million units. Or Aibo, the $1,500 robot dog that generated 40,000 advance orders in just four weeks last fall. Clearly, robots have profound consumer appeal. "The whole concept of a machine being alive is enthralling," says home-robot inventor Henry Thorne of Probotics, based in Pittsburgh, Pa. "It captures you. It thrills you deep inside." Factor in rapidly falling prices for the cameras, motors, sensors and computer chips, and you've got a trend begging to bust loose...
...Koreas are getting together. That's pretty amazing. So are the hot new mechanical toys that are supplanting living things. There's The Sims computer game that allows you to create a digital dysfunctional family in case you're dissatisfied with your own. There's Sony's "entertainment robot," AIBO, which looks like the first draft of a dog and exhibits "free will." I myself am inventing an unemotional roller coaster...