Believe it or not, Sony recently introduced a new series to its Sony AIBO line-up of robotic dogs - and this time around, it's robo puppies by the names of Latte and Macaron.
Sony's AIBO line of personal entertainment robots have proven wildly successful - far beyond what the company originally expected when it introduced its first model some years ago. Now, with the addition of the new ERS-3xx model series, the AIBO lineup contains three different series of robots, where the two first are supposed to be full-grown dogs, and the just recently introduced ERS-3xx robots will act as a puppies.
 | Adorable and mischevious, that's what Sony's new robo puppies are
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The LATTE and MACARON are, like their predecessors, autonomous robots specifically designed to be cute and loveable. The new models are equipped with 15 degrees of freedom for the head and its four legs, and have several new features such as touch sensors on the head, bottom of feet and tail that respond to stimuli as well as sound, voice and image recognition from embedded microphones and camera capture.
Both of the new models will blink a horn-shaped lamp on the top of their heads, emit sounds and perform movements to express a variety of emotions such as happiness, sadness and anger when they interact with people.
To breathe life into the AIBO robots, AIBO-ware Memory-Stick based software is needed, and in this particular case two versions is available that give different personality, features and ways of interacting with the new models; "AIBO Friend" [ERF-310AW06J] that renders the robot as a fully matured AIBO with a varied personality and "AIBO Life" [ERF-310AW01J], which allows users to experience the growing and maturing process of their AIBO.
The basic personalities of the LATTE and MACARON are also set by the AIBO-ware software "AIBO Friend" [ERF-310AW06J], and they are respectively designed to be "adorable" and "mischievous". The aforementioned personalities are pre-programmed on the Memory Stick containing the AIBO-ware Software, and by inserting the Memory Stick into the body, the robo puppies download their respective personality and interact with people.
The two robots are available immediately, with a suggested retail price of 98,000 Yen, or approximately 825 US$.
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