Many of you might know the famous Aibo from Sony. It's an artificial (and lovely) dog that our japanese fellows worship and that's also been used by many scientists to develop new kind of artificial intelligence and emulate animal behaviour. It's able to get your emails, play your songs and interact with other Sony's devices.
But getting this lovely pet costs roughly 1200 USD: still wishing to get this for your kids ?
I participated couple of weeks ago in a web based symposium (see my post)
Advanced Pet Products recently released this new toy that will allow you to play with your (how much worse vs. Aibo?) cat. It's only 20USD worth and use lasted AI technologies, embodied in a cheap electronic device that looks like a mouse. Here is the scientific trick behind this gadget:
"The Cat Attack uses the latest research in chaos theory and complex systems to emulate the movements and personality of a cat's favorite prey. This "virtual mouse" technology utilizes algorithms based on a six-dimensional coupled nzmap system modeled on the neural network of a real mouse. "
Whatever Sony is looking for with Aibo, I am convinced that if Aibo is targeting trend setters, early adopters, there is a huge market for toy makers - and that if robotic will explose in next 5 years, it won't be through products that cost more than 50USD.
In any case, Aibo is a wonderful platform for product developers and will help Sony gaining knowledge on customer needs and desires.
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