Sony AIBO Gains New Skills With AIBO MIND 2 Software and Steps Out in Pearl Black Style
Berlin, Germany (ots/PRNewswire)
Replace MP3 players and PDAs with AIBO. With the advanced new AIBO MIND 2 software, AIBO gains the ability to record moving pictures through wireless connectivity, recognise patterns, voices and faces, obey commands to play music from MP3 lists or Internet radio and dance along, read out scheduled items and wake you!
AIBO- the life and soul of the party
Here you are, host of the party and it's time for AIBO to entertain your friends. "AIBO, play music!" you say and your companion complies, playing out random songs from your favourite CDs from its built in speaker while dancing to the tunes. When AIBO is finished your friends have their turn, showing your party animal one of your selection of CDs and marvelling as AIBO recognises the cover and plays the music they've selected. AIBO isn't finished with its magic however as it can pick up and play music from Internet radio stations or from your MP3 playlist in response to your spoken commands.
Much more than a musical entertainer, improved Navigator functions and wireless networking mean AIBO can be an even more interactive aid to party hosts. AIBO can send back sound and vision to your PC from a head mounted camera and microphones and transmit your voice through its speaker, so the fun possibilities are endless. Send AIBO into a circle of your friends, while you monitor movements from your PC, then observe their startled reactions as AIBO addresses them in your voice. You can even record the fun to play back as a video on your PC later.
AIBO the personal assistant
The party is winding down; you and your friends are making plans for meeting up the next day. "AIBO, What's my calendar?" you ask and again your clever companion comes to your aid, reading out your appointments from your PC calendar. An early morning start is planned so AIBO is assigned the task of waking you with some pleasant music from your collection at the appointed time. You know of course that your home is in good hands while you are out - AIBO performs house sitting duties, catching cookie thieves red handed by recording any movement and noise, then emailing any activity to you. AIBO knows its friends however; it certainly recognises your face and voice!
AIBO the carefree companion
There's no need for you to look after AIBO though. When its battery needs recharging, AIBO simply goes to its Energy Station at any time of the day or night. When AIBO is bored it can play with its AIBOne which it can chase, pick up and bring back to you, or its pink ball with which it can play football- AIBO can even race between obstacles! AIBO can even show its emotions - it'll let you know how it's feeling by the many expressions on its face panel- so give your friend a pat to express your understanding and to develop its personality. If you already have a new AIBO ERS-7 model, a simple upgrade will add all the new features, but retain the personality and memory of your playful pal. Although AIBO will learn to recognise its tasks and obey your commands, you can set it back to a puppy stage for play whenever you want, before switching back to mature mode when there's work to be done.
"Always an intelligent and versatile friend, AIBO has now become much, much more," says Nicolas Babin, Director of Sony Entertainment Robot Europe. "The development of the AIBO MIND 2 software now included with the pearlescent white and new black AIBO model represents an important milestone in the history of domestic robots. Now AIBO is truly a functioning, responsive part of the modern family, fulfilling important organisational and visual tasks as well as providing entertainment and companionship."
NOTES FOR EDITORS
Please find below further details about products and services highlighted in the Press Release:
About AIBO ERS-7M2
AIBO is an autonomous, intelligent companion from Sony Entertainment Robot Europe that responds to voice commands, uses integrated camera and various sensors or pattern recognition to fulfil tasks and connects to a wireless network to become part of a home entertainment.. Available in two colours- the standard pearl white and the new pearl black body (with various body parts defined in dark grey metallic and brown and grey smoke colours) the AIBO ERS-7M2 now includes AIBO Mind 2 software to perform even more impressive tasks and take full advantage of AIBO's capabilities (see below for more on MIND 2).
AIBO has specially developed tactile touch sensors on its back, head and chin that double as remote control sensors for commands and as receptors for interacting with its owners (AIBO learns and develops with more human interaction). The AIBO ERS-7 also features Illume-Face, Sony's innovative LED face panel that provides a way for the robot to express its feelings, emotions and current conditions. The LED display also indicates when AIBO is transmitting images and sounds or receiving sound over a wireless connection
The Sony AIBO ERS-7 with AIBO MIND 2 will be available in November 2004 in pearl black (ERS-7M2/B) and pearl white (ERS-7M2/W) colours.
About MIND 2 Software
The AIBO MIND 2 software supplied with Sony's companion brings a new level of artificial intelligence to entertainment robotics. It is split into the AIBO Entertainment Player (AEP) and a range of new Autonomous functions. The AEP can be configured and controlled from the PC screen and is further divided into three main features. The Music Player component manages AIBO's playlist of MP3 music and Internet radio stations enabling AIBO to playback music and dance along following a PC, voice or visual cue. The Navigator component allows AIBO to be controlled remotely including using a microphone to transmit your voice through AIBO's speaker, allows monitoring of video and sounds (with a new video recording option) and provides improved reaction speed to remote commands. Finally the Scheduler provides personal time management by importing calendars from the PC diary and reading the schedules out, converting Text to Speech on the PC and streaming the speech to PCM audio for AIBO to play and respond to with actions. There's no need for a clock radio either as Scheduler ensure that AIBO will play music at your programmed wake-up time.
AIBO's new autonomous features include a new pick up mode and tricks; 'House Sitter' mode for responding to noise or movement by recording and emailing sound and pictures, using interval recording mode; there is also faster reaction to voice commands and improved obstacle avoidance as well as optimised self-charging.
AIBO has sophisticated visual pattern recognition features enabling it to remember specific objects and patterns - just control AIBO to locate an object such as a CD cover using its built-in video camera, then select capture on the control software and assign an action for AIBO to perform when it recognises the object. The head-mounted camera is capable of recording motion and pictures either at intervals or in a continuous stream, then can take advantage of IEEE 802.11b wireless networking to transmit pictures, movies and sound to a networked PC or over a DSL Internet. Reactions have also been improved, with AIBO able to respond to many specific spoken commands in conjunction with the MIND 2 software and to reply using Text To Speech technology when asked about the owner's schedule. Other major audio features include a built-in speaker to play music from many popular formats or from Internet radio, again streamed to AIBO using wireless networking. Of course this being AIBO and no mere music player, the artificially intelligent companion will dance along and play in response to the music and move in response to the playback of specific words. AIBO can be operated under remote control or can act in autonomous mode, but pictures and sound can be monitored from the PC at any time, allowing you to see and hear everything as AIBO roams around.
AIBO MIND 2 software will be available in November 2004, included with the new ERS-7M2 models or as an upgrade kit for existing ERS-7 owners (AIBO MIND 2 inherits the personality of the owner's current AIBO with MIND software).
Key specifications:
SONY AIBO ERS-7 with MIND 2
- Dimensions :180 (W) x 278 (H) x 319 (D) mm
- Weight Approx. 1.65kg (including battery & memory stick)
- CPU : 64bit RISC Processor
- CPU Clock Speed : 576MHz
- Memory: 64Mbyte SDRAM, Memory Stick for Program Storage
- Movable Parts
- Mouth - 1 degree of freedom
- Head - 3 degrees of freedom
- Leg - 3 degrees of freedom x 4 legs
- Ear - 1 degree of freedom x 2
- Tail - 2 degrees of freedom
- Camera :CMOS Image Sensor 350,000 pixels
- IEEE 802.11b (Integrated)Wireless LAN Card
- Audio: Miniature Microphones, Miniature Speaker, 20.8mm,500mW, MIDI,
Volume Switch
- Built-in Sensors
- Infrared Distance Sensor (head, body)
- Acceleration Sensor
- Electric Static Sensor (head, back)
- Pressure Sensor (chin, paws (4)
- Vibration Sensor
- Temperature Sensor
- Power Consumption: Approx. 7W (Standard operation in autonomous mode)
- Operating Time: Approx. 1.5 Hours (Standard operation in autonomous
mode)
- Charging Time: Approx. 2.5 Hours
- LED mode and emotion lights :
- Illume face: 24 LED (white 12, red 4, blue 4, green4)
- Ear : 2 (left & right)
- Head sensor : 2 (white and amber)
- Head (wireless LAN on/off) : 1(blue
- Back sensor : 16 (white 8, red 3, blue 3, orange 2
- Supplied Accessories:
- AIBO MIND 2 (software), Energy station, Energy station pole, AC
adapter, Lithium Ion Battery pack, Pink ball, AIBOne, AIBO Cards,
Documentation CD-ROM containing Installer, AEP and RFW, WLAN
Manager and PDF Manuals, Paper Manual.
AIBO Mind 2 System Requirements
- AIBO ERS-7
- Microsoft(R) Windows(R) PC
- OS: Microsoft(R) Windows(R) XP (SP1/SP2) / Windows(R) 2000
Professional (SP4)
- Language : English, Japanese
- CPU : Intel(R) Pentium III 800MHz, EUR256MB Memory, EUR120MB HDD
- 3D Graphic Card with 16MB or more VRAM
- Microsoft(R) Direct Sound(R) compatible sound card
- Memory Stick(TM) Reader & Writer
- (Software requirements)
- Direct X 9.0 Microsoft(R) DirectX(R)
- Windows Media Player 9
- TTS (Microsoft Speech API)
- Microsoft(R) Outlook(R) (optional)
- Wireless LAN
- IEEE802.11b Access point (P2P not recommended due to functional
limitations)
- DSL (Dial-up not recommended)In addition, for any queries about Sony in your respective country, please contact your local Sony PR office.
About Sony:
Sony manufactures audio, video, communications and information technology products for the global consumer and professional markets. With its music, pictures, game and online businesses, Sony is uniquely positioned to become a leading personal broadband entertainment company in the 21st century. In Europe, Sony recorded consolidated annual sales of EUR 13.47 billion (yen 1,765 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2004, based on an average market exchange rate for the same period of yen 131 to the EUR. Sony Europe, headquartered at the Sony Center am Potsdamer Platz in Berlin, is responsible for the company's European electronics business and registered consolidated sales of EUR 8.71 billion for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2004.
For more information on Sony Europe, please visit http://www.sony-europe.com and http://www.sony-europe.com/presscenter
Contact:
For more information, please contact: Georges Gérard, Corporate
Communications Europe / Sony Europe GmbH, Tel. +33-1-5590-3287 email:
Georges.Gerard@eu.sony.com Sylvia Shin, Corporate Communications
Europe / Sony Europe GmbH, tel: +49-30-2575-5156 email:
Sylvia.Shin@eu.sony.com