entertainment
Tricks, play, evolving personality
Owner verifiedVerified July 2026
- Control mode
- Autonomous
- Human intervention
- None
Research record R-003Commercially available
aibo
By Sony · Japan · announced November 2017
The definitive robot pet: eight years in production, a devoted owner community, and a 2026 farewell to its home market.
Curated overlap
Continue to the curated dossier This robot has a deeper field-guide dossier.
Use the curated dossier for claim-level citations, regional offers, ownership context, and the current editorial assessment.
Research summary
What the record says.
Sony's aibo ERS-1000 is the gold standard of companion robots. Revived in 2018 after the original 1999-2006 AIBO line, the robot puppy combines OLED eyes, 22 axes of movement and cloud-backed AI that develops a distinct personality per household, recognizing up to 100 faces, learning tricks and mapping its home. Japan bought 20,000 units in the first six months alone.
In the US it sells for $2,899.99 including a three-year aibo AI Cloud plan, with renewal afterward reported in the low hundreds of dollars per year. The cloud dependency is aibo's known weakness: without the subscription, core personality features stop, a fact owners of the discontinued original AIBO remember bitterly.
On June 25-26, 2026, Sony announced it will end aibo sales in Japan once stock runs out, eight years after launch, while continuing US sales and honoring support for existing Japanese owners. It is the strongest possible reminder that even the best companion robots live and die by corporate commitment.
Delivery evidence
Announcement is not arrival.
Owner verified
Continuously sold since 2018; large owner community; 20,000 units in first six months in Japan
Capability ledger
What has actually been shown?
4 material claims are separated by evidence setting and human involvement. The strongest recorded signal is Owner verified; it does not automatically transfer to every row.
conversation
Command recognition and vocal response (no speech)
Owner verifiedVerified July 2026
- Control mode
- Autonomous
- Human intervention
- None
security
aibo Patrol home-check feature
Owner verifiedVerified July 2026
- Control mode
- Autonomous
- Human intervention
- Owner reviews reports
elder care
Companionship benefits in care settings
Independently testedVerified July 2026
- Control mode
- Autonomous
- Human intervention
- Facilitated programs
Hardware record.
- Height
- 29 cm
- Weight
- 2.2 kg
- Locomotion
- Quadruped walking
- Payload
- None (bone accessory play)
- Runtime
- About 2 hours; self-docks to charge
- Charging
- Self-docking charge station
- Top speed
- Puppy pace
- Degrees of freedom
- 22
- Hands
- None
- Face / expression
- OLED eyes with rich expressions; ear and tail articulation
- Sensors
- 2 cameras (nose and back), 4 microphones, ToF and ranging sensors, touch sensors on head, chin and back, paw pads
Software record.
- AI platform
- Sony aibo AI with cloud learning (aibo AI Cloud)
- Voice
- Recognizes commands and its name; barks and sounds rather than speech
- Languages
- Japanese and English command sets
- Visual recognition
- Recognizes up to 100 faces; maps home
- Memory
- Persistent personality development per household
- Processing
- On-device behavior with cloud learning and backup
- Autonomous abilities
- Fully autonomous pet behavior including self-charging
- Teleoperation
- None
- Software updates
- Regular feature updates historically; cadence slowed in later years
- Developer access
- aibo API and visual programming for owners
Who can see, hear, or take control?
- Recording storage
- Camera and interaction data processed via aibo AI Cloud under Sony's published policy
- Remote operation possible
- No documented remote operation
- Teleoperation disclosure
- Not applicable
- Camera / microphone controls
- Power off; no hardware camera shutter
- Data deletion
- Account data deletion via Sony
- Account required
- Yes, Sony account plus cloud plan
- Emergency stop
- Power button; 2.2 kg soft-pawed design
- Children and pets
- Designed for households; sturdy against handling
- Security updates
- Sony-maintained; Japan end-of-sales raises long-term questions
Lifecycle record
Status history.
- Commercially available
Original AIBO line (1999-2006), about 150,000 sold, then discontinued
- Commercially available
ERS-1000 launches in Japan; US launch follows at $2,899
- Commercially available
Sony announces end of Japan sales once stock depletes; US sales continue
Source register
3 linked sources.
These sources support the research record as a whole. Unlike the curated dossiers, this imported record does not yet map every claim to a stable source ID.