Last week, Sony's Aibo robot pet grew up. What was an experiment became not just a product but a platform. Just as Sony PlayStation owners can buy programs to run on their games consoles, Aibo owners will be able to buy software to give their pets extra capabilities, including playing games.
The new generation Aibo ERA-210 is twice as powerful as the original, but much cheaper at € 1,500, down from € 2,400. It has two more sensors on its back and chin, to provide greater interaction, and can move its new perky ears.
Voice recognition means that it can learn to recognise 40 to 50 words, and it can "talk" in a sort of musical burbling language. The digital camera built into its nose means that it can take pictures on command, and save them on a Sony Memory Stick for viewing on a PC.
With Aibo Fun Pack software, owners can follow their pet's daily photographic diary, and with Aibo Party Mascot software, their Aibo can play a game based on "rock, paper, scissors". Thanks to a built-in clock/calendar, Aibo can even remember birthdays.
But the biggest change of all is that if you want one, you can buy one. When Sony offers the new Aibo for sale at www.aibo.com on November 16, it will build as many as are needed to meet demand. This is not quite the same as a continuous production line, but it could become one.
The first limited edition Aibo ERA-110 made headlines last June when the 3,000 offered for sale in Japan were snapped up in just 20 minutes. Another 2,000 also sold quickly in North America, in spite of the hefty $2,500 price tag.
Sony came back for another bite at the market in November, holding a lottery to sell 10,000 of the revised Aibo ERA-111. This came in a choice of colours - black, as well as the original silver - and, for the first time, was sold in Europe. Orders flooded in: 132,000 from Japan, 2,000 from North America, and 1,000 from Europe.
Another 30,000 Aibos were sold in February, taking the total population up to 45,000. About 90% of those live in Japan.
"Nobody expected that much demand," says Satoshi Amagai, president of Sony's Entertainment Robot Company. "Even now we're not sure how much demand there is, and what are the success factors that attract people. We have to be super-flexible to follow the movements of the market. The problem is, you never know."
With the new version available in gold, silver or black, Amagai is planning to expand the market, starting with sales in Singapore and Hong Kong. South Korea may be next.
He also wants to build up a business in software and accessories for Aibo, which has a 192MHz Mips processor and 32 megabytes of memory. This will include programs supplied on Sony Memory Sticks with CDs for PCs running Microsoft Windows.
Aibo Life is the basic program: it lets owners raise and train an Aibo from "birth". Hello Aibo is an accessory pack "for busy people": it provides an energetic adult Aibo that owners can show off to their friends. Party Mascot includes games and is described as "great for parties and other events".
Other software includes the Aibo Fun Pack, which works with the Aibo Life Memory Stick, and Aibo Master Studio, which lets owners program their own behaviours. Accessories range from spare batteries to carrying bags, some of them not available until February.
In February, Sony plans to release an Aibo Wireless LAN card, so an Aibo can become part of a wireless Ethernet local area network, making it much easier to program from a PC. Wireless Ethernet is becoming popular as a way of connecting several home PCs together to share a high-speed internet connection, such as ADSL.
There are enough products to push the package price back up from £1,590 (for a standard Aibo with Aibo Life) to £2,400 or more. However, Amagai is also looking at other spin-offs. "The thing is, this is not just hardware, it's a new form of entertainment," he says. "so people can enjoy a wide range of offers. One of the ideas we're discussing is making a movie. Or publishing a book, or coming up with Aibo-character souvenirs. One of the benchmarks is Nintendo's Pokémon!
"We're also looking at communications: how Aibo could communicate with your personal computer or PDA [personal digital assistant] or with another Aibo. We are studying Bluetooth, wireless iLink, all the technologies, to see which ones to pick. The new Aibo will already communicate with a desktop or notebook PC."
Most of this sounds as though it could appeal to the somewhat geeky audience that the Aibo enjoys outside Japan. It might even encourage people to think of practical applications for the dog, perhaps for remote monitoring. But the mass market of toy buyers is clearly some way away, and it is much further away in Europe than it is in Japan.
Amagai says: "Sales of this Aibo will tell us about the differences between countries. We believe there is vast potential in Europe and North America, otherwise the market will be significantly limited. Young people in Japan are keen to take anything new, and will spend much money, but that won't last forever."
You might have thought one obvious way to broaden the market would be to offer a robot cat instead of another robodog, and the latest version has new cat-like ears instead of the droopy dog-ears of the original.
But Amagai protests. "We never said this was a dog!" he exclaims. "That's part of the reason this new Aibo is not as dog-like. Concept-wise it's a baby lion, which is more related to the cat, so hopefully this will attract more cat lovers."
