Aibo – Mark II

I see that Sony have just announced a new version of Aibo, the robot dog.

I must admit I was rather taken with the first version of Aibo and half-seriously thought about getting one until Sony pulled the plug in January 2006.

This new version looks like a major advance, in that it will be connected to AI services in the cloud to power its learning capabilities. Of course, that probably also introduces all sorts of cybersecurity risks as well, so I hope Sony are prepared for the day when all the Aibos in the world rise up against their owners.

However, I think that if I were to get a second generation Aibo, Watson would not be best pleased, as shown in this test of a first generation Aibo in a Sony laboratory.

I suspect that Watson would make equally short work of an Aibo.