AIBO the Robot Dog that relieves the loneliness of nursing home residents
Disadvantages of Aibo
AIBO stands for Artificial intelligence robot or similar to the word for "companion" in Japanese. It was just recently in the media that a study carried out by Saint Louis University finds that a dog named Sparky and a robotic dog, AIBO, are about equally effective at relieving the loneliness of nursing home residents and fostering attachments. Sony developed a special 'R-code' language to program the pet dog with. A disadvantage to the Aibo is that Sony discontinued the line of robots back in March 2006. Currently the Aibo is very rare but can be sometimes found on ebay going for $500 or more. A great alternative to Aibo is Pleo the pet robot dinosaur by Ugobe. Pleo is only $199 and is readily available on Amazon.
Sparky the Aibo: Robot Dogs & Other Robotic Pets
Pleo Dinosaur - A Ugobe Life Form - Sophisticated sensory system with nearly 40 devices enable sight, touch, and autonomous movement
Robotic wonder explores and reacts to environment, interacts with you, and expresses emotion
Tekno the Robotic Puppy - Silver - Tekno robotic puppy performs a variety of cool tricks
Behaviors are launched by pressing the sensors on his head, neck, nose, and side
Walks forward, backward, right and left; features color-changing eyes