AIBO, An Interesting Story

We already talked about ASIMO from Honda. Now we will talk about AIBO.
AIBO (Artificial Intelligence roBOt) is the name of a dog-robot created by Sony. The story of this robot is very interesting because it relates to the differences in the idiosyncrasies of Japan and the US. In Japan AIBO was a success as a pet, even without any particular useful function but providing fun. In the US, it wasn’t as successful as in Japan because of that reason (Americans asked “what does it do?”).

There is even a Harvard Business Case about AIBO. Here is the description of the case:
The Sony AIBO is the world’s first “entertainment” robot. Positioned as a household “companion,” the $1,500 AIBO has become a smash hit in Japan, appealing to both the young and the old, including those with little technical expertise. In the United States, the AIBO is in hot demand among “techies” infatuated with high-tech gadgets; however, it has yet to catch on with the mainstream. The task for Takeshi Yazawa, VP and general manager of Sony Entertainment Robot America, is to figure out how to market the AIBO to the American masses.

Here are some videos of AIBO dancing:

22 July 2007 | Life with Technology, Entertainment, Business, Robots | Comments