Sony’s New Aibo to be Available in the US in Sept for $2,899

Sony has announced that its refreshed Aibo robot dog will be available in the US with a price tag of $2,899. The robot will be on exhibit to the US public at Sony Square in Manhattan from Friday to October 14.

With Aibo, Sony has again proved its dominance in the electronics market showcasing its reputation for excellent design and innovation.  "The name Aibo is a play on the phrase "artificial intelligence robot" — it's also the Japanese word for a pal — and proving its prowess in AI is more important to Sony now than it has ever been", cites a leading website.

Aibo is laden with cameras, touch sensors, microphones, and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor to identify surroundings, use algorithms to approximate the behavior of a real pooch. It can recognize up to 100 faces and remember past interactions with people with a CMOS image sensor for facial recognition, along with a simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) camera.

The robot will come with paw pads, aibone, a pink ball and a charging station. It can interact with, and controlled with the My Aibo app for Android and iOS. Aibo charges on its own and could be trained when connected to Sony's AI Cloud while updating itself automatically without much intervention.

"Aibo is such a remarkable feat when you look at it holistically. Not only does it incorporate many of our core technologies across many parts of our company — including image sensing; artificial intelligence; advanced robotics; sound and language recognition engines; OLED displays for eyes; cameras for geography and navigation — it's all of that in one, in addition to a deep learning device," said Sony Electronics President and COO Mike Fasulo.

"It's not a product I want to push and drive hard for revenue. It's more [about] innovation and how the best of Sony comes together," Fasulo said. "It really is a true expression of the brand."

Aibo is currently manufactured at a factory in Kota, Aichi Prefecture, in central Japan. The First Litter Edition of Aibo was revealed in Japan last November, and the company has since sold over 20,000 units.