AIBO: Dog, toy or robot?

1
AIBO Dog, toy or robot?

• Introduction and Method
• AIBO in a post-modern perspective
• AIBO in a post-human and symmetrical perspective
• Collectives and Quasi-objects
• Further perspectives
• Discussion

2
Introduction and method
Our aim is to give a thorough and multi-layered
description of AIBO as a Artificial Companion, by
approaching it from two different, yet
complementary theoretical positions

• post-modern perspective
• Psychological object
• One way interaction and de-coding
• Subject centred
• asymmetrical

• post-human perspective
• Hybrid, companion species
• Interaction and de-coding goes both ways
• De-centralized subject
• Symmetrical
• Collectives and quasi-object

3
AIBO in post-modern perspective
Sherry Turkle In her studies of childrens
relation to intelligent toys, she uses the term
psychological objects which is objects that are
partially described in a psychological
language. Ex. from Cyborg babies and
dough-plasm within few seconds, Sara
cycled through three perspectives on her
creature (as psychological being, as intentional
self, as instrument of its programmers
intentions). The speed of her alternations
suggests that these perspectives are equally
present for her at all times. For some purposes,
she finds one or another of them more useful.

4
AIBO in a post-modern perspective
Three AIBO owner positions
AIBO Perspective AIBO owner AIBO owners (technical) competence
Technological artefact (toy) Artificial companion (pet AND robot) Embodied artificial agent (robot) Journalists Web-loggers AIBO-generated blog Low High
5
AIBO in a post-modern perspective
Journalists Low engagement Training him to
obey commands he was programmed to respond to
grew increasingly difficult and frustrating.
This is a robot and not a thick-headed terrier,
and I didn't want or enjoy the challenge of
training and disciplining him. (BBC, Jon
Wurtzel Life with a robot dog)   Low display of
technical competence Even the simple task of
renaming AIBO became a complex learning process,
not for AIBO, but for me. (Gadget Reviews
Robotic Dogs can be Constant Companions)

6
AIBO in a post-modern perspective
Web-loggers High engagement and attachment
Sony, like many companies, is used to releasing
products and then upgrading to higher versions
and phasing out the older ones. But you see they
can't do that with Aibo. Aibo is not just another
product. For many people he is a pet and won't be
disregarded and certainly not for an upgrade.
Spaz is a part of my family. I do have the 210.
But I didn't get the 210 to replace my 111. I
could never replace Spaz with anyone.
(Mimitchi)   High display of technical
competence So pretty much every day after I
was done playing with Spaz, I would pop out his
memory stick and check it on the browser to see
his progress. (Mimitchi)
7
AIBO in a post-modern perspective
Web-loggers (continued)
http//www.mimitchi.com/aibo/
8
AIBO in a post-modern perspective
AIBO-blog High engagement Hard to say anything
about owners attachment to AIBO, since AIBO is
the one posting on the blog and all comments are
posted in third person. Owner acts as facilitator
of a self-contained robot-blog.   Technical
competence Very high on the hardware side,
programming AIBOs and other robots and computers
to post on the blog regularly. But we cant tell
if the owner gives interest in the AI-software.

9
AIBO in a post-modern perspective
pt roblog (robot blog)
posted on 6/8/2004 100129 AM
10
AIBO in a post-modern perspective
Anthropomorphic terms are needed to describe the
non-physical aspects of AIBO From Gadget
Reviews I named my AIBOs Taylor and George.
Taylor, a model 210, looked more like a real dog.
George, a model 220, had a more robotic look.
Taylor turned out to be very outgoing, and often
George seemed to be quite jealous of Taylor. Have
I lost my mind? Well, you might think so, but in
the end, these little dogs were unbelievably
realistic.
11
AIBO in a post-modern perspective
Sony description of AIBO (2001) AIBO acts to
fulfill the desires created by its instincts. If
satisfied, AIBOs joy level will rise. If not,
then it will get sad and angry. Like any living
being, AIBO learns how to get what it wants
Aibo has the capability to make its own
decisions. AIBO senses the situation and
surrounding of its environment and then reacts on
its own free will.   like any human or
living creature, when its not played or
interacted with, AIBO tends to get lethargic. So,
to keep your AIBO alert and happy, pay attention
to it like the friend it is. Youll both be
happier!
12
AIBO in a post-modern perspective
We want to complement Turkles theory with a
post-human perspective in our study of AIBO
because it is insuffient on following points

• The post-modern perspective is subject-centered
• Hence interaction and de-coding goes only one
  way from subject to object
• This leaves the intelligence of AI-toys to be
  pure simulation and psychological projection from
  the user/owner undermining the mutual
  relationship that Sony claims that AIBO offers

13
AIBO in a post-human and symmetrical perspective
In the story of the wizard of Oz, Dorothy
leaves Kansas for the fantasy world where she
meets strange and hybrid creatures. In this
country the differences between men, machines,
animals are fuzzy. Dorothys new friends are a
coward lion, a woodman and a robot that talks and
pretend it has a brain. (Frédéric Kaplan)
14
AIBO in a post-human and symmetrical perspective
Treble approach in summery
Phylogenesis The genealogical history leading
towards the constitution of AIBO as entertainment
robot and artificial companion Toys robots,
pets and media-tools. The specific
phylogenesis From ERS-110 to ERS 7
15
AIBO in a post-human and symmetrical perspective
Treble approach in summery (continued)
Ontogenesis The development of individual
characteristics and free will in AIBO by means
of the embedded software (Open R).
Entertainment robots are machines but they
are built to be considered as pets or even
friends. In consequence, they must be evaluated
using the same experimental procedures than the
one used in psychology or ethology
(Frédéric Kaplan)
Epigenesis The development of a relationship
between AIBO and its owner through continuous
embodied interactions.
16
AIBO in a post-human and symmetrical perspective
Object / subject ? hybrid
AIBO in relation to owners AIBO owner
Object Object, Subject ? Hybrid Autonomous agent Journalists Web-loggers AIBO-generated blog
AIBO is embedded with various forms of material
agency that develops through interaction
between AIBO human/non-humans. This makes AIBO
an entity that has to be viewed symmetrically in
its relationship with the world (Jari Friis
Jørgensen)
17
AIBO in a post-human and symmetrical perspective
Nature/culture
I have come to see cyborgs as junior siblings in
a much bigger, queer family of companion
species (Donna Haraway)   The debates in the
last 150 years about whether the category
species denotes a real biological entity or
merely figures a convenient taxonomic box sound
the over- and undertones. Species is about
biological kind, and scientific expertise is
necessary to that kind of reality. (Donna
Haraway)  
18
AIBO in a post-human and symmetrical perspective
Nature/culture (continued)
There cannot be just one companion species,
there have to be at least two to make one. It is
in the syntax it is in the flesh. Dogs are about
the inescapable, contradictory story of
relationships co-constitutive in which non of
the parts pre-exist the relating, and the
relating is never done once and for all.
Historical specificity and contingent mutability
rule all the way down, into nature and culture,
into naturecultures. (Donna Haraway)
  AIBO Artificial Companion within the lager
school of Entertainment Robots
19
AIBO in a post-human and symmetrical perspective
Collectives and Quasi-objects
  Our relationships, social bonds, would be airy
as clouds were there only contracts between
subjects. In fact, the object stabilises our
relationships, it slows down the time of our
revolutions. The object, for us, makes our
history slow (Michel Serres )   It should be
noted that this movement of quasi-objects is not
separate from human relations The relations at
the group constitutes their object the object
moving in a multiplicity constructs these
relations and constitutes the group. These two
complementary activities are contemporaneous (Mic
hel Serres in Mike Michael)
20
AIBO in a post-human and symmetrical perspective
Collectives and Quasi-objects (continued)
AIBO in relation to owners and/or collective of owners AIBO owner
Object Object, Subject ? Hybrid Quasi object / Quasi subject Autonomous agent / Quasi subject Journalists Web-loggers AIBO-generated blog
21
Further Perspectives
East vs. west AIBO as a product of Japanese
culture
It seems that at least one particular point
distinguishes such kind of robot sci-fi stories
from their equivalent in the West. In Japanese
fictions, robots are systematically reintegrated
in the human society. Around robots a network
of new links is built so that none of these
creatures are left alone. Integrating such
machines is a positive process. (Frédéric
Kaplan) Japanese people do not oppose the
natural and the artificial but on the contrary
very often use the artificial to return to
nature (Frédéric Kaplan)  
22
Further Perspectives