Sony's Aibo robotic dog is back — and ridiculously expensive

(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/The Japan Times)

published 1 November 2017

Man's best friend just got an upgrade. Sony announced Wednesday that it is bringing back its beloved robo-pooch, Aibo, which was discontinued in 2006, The Japan Times reports. "Today I am pleased to introduce an entertainment robot we have been developing for the past year and a half that's worthy of love and is a delight to nurture through emotional connections with people," said Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai.

Of course, technology has come a long way since Aibo first went on the market in 1999, and in the meantime, Sony's been working like a dog. The new Aibo model, which will be out in January, "uses ultra-compact actuators that allow its body to move along 22 axes, and its eyes use two OLED panels to show a range of expressions," The Verge writes. And being a not-so-old dog, it can even learn new tricks: Aibo connects to the Cloud to better "learn" how to interact with people based on the experiences of other units.

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.

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