AIBO

AIBO (Artificial Intelligence Robot, homonymous with aibō (相棒), "pal" or "partner" in Japanese) is an iconic series of robotic pets designed and manufactured by Sony. Sony announced a prototype robot in mid-1998. The first consumer model was introduced on May 11, 1999. New models were released every year until 2005. Although most models were dog-like, other inspirations included lion-cubs and space explorer, and only the final ERS-7 version was explicitly a "robot dog".

AIBOs were marketed for domestic use as "Entertainment Robots". They were also widely adopted by universities for educational purposes (e.g. Robocup) and research into robotics and human-robot interaction.

AIBOs have been used in many movies, music videos and advertising campaigns as futuristic icons.

On January 26, 2006 Sony announced that it would discontinue AIBO and several other products in an effort to make the company profitable. It also stopped development of the related QRIO robot. Sony's AIBO customer support was withdrawn gradually, with support for the final ERS-7M3 ending in March 2013. Some third party support is available, such as repairs and battery refurbishment.

Aibō

Aibō (相棒, Partners) is a Japanese television detective series that first aired on TV Asahi on June 3, 2000. It has been adapted into three films: Aibō the Movie (2008), Aibou: The Movie II (2010) and Aibou: The Movie III (2014).

The drama features Ukyō Sugishita (杉下右京) , a police inspector assigned to the fictional Special Missions Unit (特命係, Tokumei-gakari) of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department and his partners as Kaoru Kameyama (亀山薫) from 2000 to 2009, Takeru Kambe (神戸尊) from 2009 to 2012, Tōru Kai (甲斐享) from 2012 to 2015, and Wataru Kaburagi (冠城亘) from 2015 on.

Aibō is also broadcast with English subtitles in Hawaii by the television station KIKU under the name Partners.

Seasons

Cast

References

External links