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Sony AIBO Gains New Skills With AIBO MIND 2 Software and Steps Out in Pearl Black Style

Berlin, Germany (ots/PRNewswire)

Replace MP3 players and PDAs
with AIBO. With the advanced new AIBO MIND 2 software, AIBO gains the
ability to record moving pictures through wireless connectivity,
recognise patterns, voices and faces, obey commands to play music
from MP3 lists or Internet radio and dance along, read out scheduled
items and wake you!
AIBO- the life and soul of the party
Here you are, host of the party and it's time for AIBO to
entertain your friends. "AIBO, play music!" you say and your
companion complies, playing out random songs from your favourite CDs
from its built in speaker while dancing to the tunes. When AIBO is
finished your friends have their turn, showing your party animal one
of your selection of CDs and marvelling as AIBO recognises the cover
and plays the music they've selected. AIBO isn't finished with its
magic however as it can pick up and play music from Internet radio
stations or from your MP3 playlist in response to your spoken
commands.
Much more than a musical entertainer, improved Navigator functions
and wireless networking mean AIBO can be an even more interactive aid
to party hosts. AIBO can send back sound and vision to your PC from a
head mounted camera and microphones and transmit your voice through
its speaker, so the fun possibilities are endless. Send AIBO into a
circle of your friends, while you monitor movements from your PC,
then observe their startled reactions as AIBO addresses them in your
voice. You can even record the fun to play back as a video on your PC
later.
AIBO the personal assistant
The party is winding down; you and your friends are making plans
for meeting up the next day. "AIBO, What's my calendar?" you ask and
again your clever companion comes to your aid, reading out your
appointments from your PC calendar. An early morning start is planned
so AIBO is assigned the task of waking you with some pleasant music
from your collection at the appointed time. You know of course that
your home is in good hands while you are out - AIBO performs house
sitting duties, catching cookie thieves red handed by recording any
movement and noise, then emailing any activity to you. AIBO knows its
friends however; it certainly recognises your face and voice!
AIBO the carefree companion
There's no need for you to look after AIBO though. When its
battery needs recharging, AIBO simply goes to its Energy Station at
any time of the day or night. When AIBO is bored it can play with its
AIBOne which it can chase, pick up and bring back to you, or its pink
ball with which it can play football- AIBO can even race between
obstacles! AIBO can even show its emotions - it'll let you know how
it's feeling by the many expressions on its face panel- so give your
friend a pat to express your understanding and to develop its
personality. If you already have a new AIBO ERS-7 model, a simple
upgrade will add all the new features, but retain the personality and
memory of your playful pal. Although AIBO will learn to recognise its
tasks and obey your commands, you can set it back to a puppy stage
for play whenever you want, before switching back to mature mode when
there's work to be done.
"Always an intelligent and versatile friend, AIBO has now become
much, much more," says Nicolas Babin, Director of Sony Entertainment
Robot Europe. "The development of the AIBO MIND 2 software now
included with the pearlescent white and new black AIBO model
represents an important milestone in the history of domestic robots.
Now AIBO is truly a functioning, responsive part of the modern
family, fulfilling important organisational and visual tasks as well
as providing entertainment and companionship."
NOTES FOR EDITORS
Please find below further details about products and services
highlighted in the Press Release:
About AIBO ERS-7M2
AIBO is an autonomous, intelligent companion from Sony
Entertainment Robot Europe that responds to voice commands, uses
integrated camera and various sensors or pattern recognition to
fulfil tasks and connects to a wireless network to become part of a
home entertainment.. Available in two colours- the standard pearl
white and the new pearl black body (with various body parts defined
in dark grey metallic and brown and grey smoke colours) the AIBO
ERS-7M2 now includes AIBO Mind 2 software to perform even more
impressive tasks and take full advantage of AIBO's capabilities (see
below for more on MIND 2).
AIBO has specially developed tactile touch sensors on its back,
head and chin that double as remote control sensors for commands and
as receptors for interacting with its owners (AIBO learns and
develops with more human interaction). The AIBO ERS-7 also features
Illume-Face, Sony's innovative LED face panel that provides a way for
the robot to express its feelings, emotions and current conditions.
The LED display also indicates when AIBO is transmitting images and
sounds or receiving sound over a wireless connection
The Sony AIBO ERS-7 with AIBO MIND 2 will be available in November
2004 in pearl black (ERS-7M2/B) and pearl white (ERS-7M2/W) colours.
About MIND 2 Software
The AIBO MIND 2 software supplied with Sony's companion brings a
new level of artificial intelligence to entertainment robotics. It is
split into the AIBO Entertainment Player (AEP) and a range of new
Autonomous functions. The AEP can be configured and controlled from
the PC screen and is further divided into three main features. The
Music Player component manages AIBO's playlist of MP3 music and
Internet radio stations enabling AIBO to playback music and dance
along following a PC, voice or visual cue. The Navigator component
allows AIBO to be controlled remotely including using a microphone to
transmit your voice through AIBO's speaker, allows monitoring of
video and sounds (with a new video recording option) and provides
improved reaction speed to remote commands. Finally the Scheduler
provides personal time management by importing calendars from the PC
diary and reading the schedules out, converting Text to Speech on the
PC and streaming the speech to PCM audio for AIBO to play and respond
to with actions. There's no need for a clock radio either as
Scheduler ensure that AIBO will play music at your programmed wake-up
time.
AIBO's new autonomous features include a new pick up mode and
tricks; 'House Sitter' mode for responding to noise or movement by
recording and emailing sound and pictures, using interval recording
mode; there is also faster reaction to voice commands and improved
obstacle avoidance as well as optimised self-charging.
AIBO has sophisticated visual pattern recognition features
enabling it to remember specific objects and patterns - just control
AIBO to locate an object such as a CD cover using its built-in video
camera, then select capture on the control software and assign an
action for AIBO to perform when it recognises the object. The
head-mounted camera is capable of recording motion and pictures
either at intervals or in a continuous stream, then can take
advantage of IEEE 802.11b wireless networking to transmit pictures,
movies and sound to a networked PC or over a DSL Internet. Reactions
have also been improved, with AIBO able to respond to many specific
spoken commands in conjunction with the MIND 2 software and to reply
using Text To Speech technology when asked about the owner's
schedule. Other major audio features include a built-in speaker to
play music from many popular formats or from Internet radio, again
streamed to AIBO using wireless networking. Of course this being AIBO
and no mere music player, the artificially intelligent companion will
dance along and play in response to the music and move in response to
the playback of specific words. AIBO can be operated under remote
control or can act in autonomous mode, but pictures and sound can be
monitored from the PC at any time, allowing you to see and hear
everything as AIBO roams around.
AIBO MIND 2 software will be available in November 2004, included
with the new ERS-7M2 models or as an upgrade kit for existing ERS-7
owners (AIBO MIND 2 inherits the personality of the owner's current
AIBO with MIND software).
    Key specifications:
    SONY AIBO ERS-7 with MIND 2
    - Dimensions :180 (W) x 278 (H) x 319 (D) mm
    - Weight Approx. 1.65kg (including battery & memory stick)
    - CPU : 64bit RISC Processor
    - CPU Clock Speed : 576MHz
    - Memory: 64Mbyte SDRAM, Memory Stick for Program Storage
        - Movable Parts
        - Mouth - 1 degree of freedom
        - Head - 3 degrees of freedom
        - Leg - 3 degrees of freedom x 4 legs
        - Ear - 1 degree of freedom x 2
        - Tail - 2 degrees of freedom
    - Camera :CMOS Image Sensor 350,000 pixels
    - IEEE 802.11b (Integrated)Wireless LAN Card
    - Audio: Miniature Microphones, Miniature Speaker, 20.8mm,500mW, MIDI,
      Volume Switch
    - Built-in Sensors
        - Infrared Distance Sensor (head, body)
        - Acceleration Sensor
        - Electric Static Sensor (head, back)
        - Pressure Sensor (chin, paws (4)
        - Vibration Sensor
        - Temperature Sensor
    - Power Consumption: Approx. 7W (Standard operation in autonomous mode)
    - Operating Time: Approx. 1.5 Hours (Standard operation in autonomous
      mode)
    - Charging Time: Approx. 2.5 Hours
    - LED mode and emotion lights :
        - Illume face: 24 LED (white 12, red 4, blue 4, green4)
        - Ear : 2 (left & right)
        - Head sensor : 2 (white and amber)
        - Head (wireless LAN on/off) : 1(blue
        - Back sensor : 16 (white 8, red 3, blue 3, orange 2
    - Supplied Accessories:
        - AIBO MIND 2 (software), Energy station, Energy station pole, AC
          adapter, Lithium Ion Battery pack, Pink ball, AIBOne, AIBO Cards,
          Documentation CD-ROM containing Installer, AEP and RFW, WLAN
          Manager and PDF Manuals, Paper Manual.
    AIBO Mind 2 System Requirements
    - AIBO ERS-7
    - Microsoft(R) Windows(R) PC
        - OS: Microsoft(R) Windows(R) XP (SP1/SP2) / Windows(R) 2000
          Professional (SP4)
        - Language : English, Japanese
        - CPU : Intel(R) Pentium III 800MHz, EUR256MB Memory, EUR120MB HDD
        - 3D Graphic Card with 16MB or more VRAM
        - Microsoft(R) Direct Sound(R) compatible sound card
        - Memory Stick(TM) Reader & Writer
        - (Software requirements)
            - Direct X 9.0 Microsoft(R) DirectX(R)
            - Windows Media Player 9
            - TTS (Microsoft Speech API)
    - Microsoft(R) Outlook(R) (optional)
    - Wireless LAN
        - IEEE802.11b Access point (P2P not recommended due to functional
          limitations)
        - DSL (Dial-up not recommended)
In addition, for any queries about Sony in your respective
country, please contact your local Sony PR office.
About Sony:
Sony manufactures audio, video, communications and information
technology products for the global consumer and professional markets.
With its music, pictures, game and online businesses, Sony is
uniquely positioned to become a leading personal broadband
entertainment company in the 21st century. In Europe, Sony recorded
consolidated annual sales of EUR 13.47 billion (yen 1,765 billion)
for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2004, based on an average market
exchange rate for the same period of yen 131 to the EUR. Sony Europe,
headquartered at the Sony Center am Potsdamer Platz in Berlin, is
responsible for the company's European electronics business and
registered consolidated sales of EUR 8.71 billion for the fiscal year
ended March 31, 2004.
For more information on Sony Europe, please visit
http://www.sony-europe.com and http://www.sony-europe.com/presscenter

Contact:

For more information, please contact: Georges Gérard, Corporate
Communications Europe / Sony Europe GmbH, Tel. +33-1-5590-3287 email:
Georges.Gerard@eu.sony.com Sylvia Shin, Corporate Communications
Europe / Sony Europe GmbH, tel: +49-30-2575-5156 email:
Sylvia.Shin@eu.sony.com

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