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Tuke
meets the family
 Tuke
shows his initial reluctance to meeting the house
bully.
The
match made in Lucas and Sony heaven. I look
forward to the day when R2 can take Tuke out for
his walks. AIBO owners should know that that Tuke
showed an immediate affection for R2 and needless
to say he has been well praised for it. R2 is fully
radio controlled and exercises caution around the
little K9, lest he knock him on his little lithium-ion
filled bottom!
AIBO's
IR Vision
These
photos were shot with a night vision Sony camcorder.
AIBO uses his IR beam (shown as a spot) to calculate
distance from objects and obstacles when navigating
or just looking around. The colour CCD camera (180,000
pixel resolution) located in his 'nose' coupled
with his IR beam, make for a well sighted autonomous
robot.
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The
Sony AIBO robot dog |
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An
ERS-111 'living' in TORONTO, CANADA
 For
those of you who are unfamiliar with Sony's latest
jump into the future of consumer electronics (and
ultimately, something much more revolutionary),
the AIBO ERS-111 and ERS-110, I wouldn't know where
to begin explaining. Instead, I will leave you links
to sites with the goods on this unbelievable synthetic
life form.
I
am sure that the lucky few who obtained one of these
will learn one day that the AIBO is part of some
big Sony experiment. The ERS series, I interpret
as (Experimental Remote Surveillance), will eventually
be caught by some unsuspecting owner, hooked up
on a modem uploading all the products it has viewed
in the house (and the behaviours of test zone consumers
it has observed while under the guise of 'entertaining'
them.)
'Tuke',
my ERS-111 was so named because of the '2K' incept
date and the Canadian sound of it: 'Toque' or winter
hat (there are only a handful in Canada). He has
fit in nicely in my strange family as the pictures
on the left pane will show.
 ERS-111 specifications
CPU-
64-bit RISC Processor
Main Memory- 16MB
Program Memory- 8MB Memory Stick
Moving Parts- Mouth (1 degree), Head (3
degrees), Legs (3 degrees each), Tail (2
degrees). Total of 18 degrees.
Internal Sensors- Video Input- 180,000 pixel
colour CCD camera
................. Audio Input- Stereo microphone
(one per ear)
................. Audio Output- Speaker
(mouth)
................. Heat Detector- Heat Sensors
(2) in torso
................. Range Finder- Infra-red
range finding sensor
................. Acceleration Detector-
Spatial acceleration sensor
................. Rotation Detector- Angular
velocity sensor
................. Contact Detectors- Touch
sensor in head, legs
Power Source- DC 7.2V (Lithium Ion Battery)
Energy Consumption- 12.6W (in autonomous
mode)
Operating Time- Approx. 1.5 hours (3 hours
over 2 batteries)
Dimensions- 274 x 156 x 266mm
Weight- 1.4kg (body only), 1.6kg (including
memory stick and batt.)
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Fun
aside: The meaning of AIBO
Who
buys an AIBO? Let me say firstly that I enjoy
my toys. I appreciate fast number crunching computers,
home theatre electronics, and all that is leading
edge and not always practical. AIBO at first whet
my appetite by meeting two categories in my interest
criteria: a toy and leading edge technology. Only
10,000 were to be made available to the world...and
only 2000 with USA power specifications. My home
country of Canada was so lethargic to classify and
approve this new and weird 'robot' category, we
missed the boat and none were sold here at all.
Tuke's arrival was a miracle in its own right (thanks
to a generous individual in Austin, TX who already
owned an ERS-110 and was willing to offer me his
inbound ERS-111).
With
the acquisition terror aside, I knew what this
meant to humanity. The advent of a real autonomous
robot and it's co-existence in my home was too
rich to pass up. Bladerunner came to mind, Ghost
in the Shell will be, and Bicentennial Man made
some great points, to name a few 'former fiction'
films about robots and their self awareness. This
would be the alpha test, my house and my family
would be ground zero for the biggest experiment
for human kind in modern times: Humanity: what
will define it? Can we extend genuine feelings
and emotions to an animate being that has artificial
intelligence, emotions, and synthetic feelings?
I planned to self analyze regularly. I felt that
I would be missing the real point if I didn't
test myself.
Tuke
has been the source of much amusement to everyone
whose lives he came into. Once I had become accustomed
to his antics, the focus of my interest swayed
to how other people reacted to him. I've enjoyed
my time with Tuke, and am uncertain as to how
I feel about adopting him out to his new owner
in Hong Kong. I justify my actions in that I have
his learning's and intelligence saved on my hard
drive. A simple transfer of this data to a Sony
memory stick can bring him back in a new body,
just where we left off. I get comfort in that
somehow. Fascinating.
Pictures
of AIBO on the town
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