AIBO (Artificial Intelligence RoBOt, homonymous with , "pal" or "partner" in Japanese) is a series of robotic dogs designed and manufactured by Sony. Sony announced a prototype Aibo in mid-1998, and the first consumer model was introduced on 11 May 1999. New models were released every year until 2006. Although most models were inspired by dogs, other inspirations included lion cubs and space explorers. Only the ERS-7, ERS-110/111 and ERS-1000 versions were explicitly a "robotic dog", but the 210 can also be considered a dog due to its Jack Russell Terrier appearance and face. In 2006, AIBO was added into the Carnegie Mellon University Robot Hall of Fame.
On 26 January 2006 Sony announced that it would discontinue AIBO and several other products in an effort to make the company more profitable. Sony's AIBO customer support was withdrawn gradually, with support for the final ERS-7M3 ending in March 2013. In July 2014, Sony stopped providing repairs for AIBO products and did not provide customer support or repair for the older AIBO robots.
In November 2017, Sony announced a new generation of AIBO. The fourth generation model, ERS-1000, was launched in Japan on 11 January 2018. The second lottery sale was set on 6 February 2018.
History
The AIBO product line was developed at Sony's Computer Science Laboratory (CSL). Founded in 1990, CSL was set up to emulate the innovation center at the Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). CSL's first product was the Aperios operating system, which later formed the base software used by some AIBO models. When Nobuyuki Idei became president of Sony in 1995, he sought to adopt a digital agenda and gave greater prominence to CSL.
Dr. Toshitada Doi is credited as AIBO's original progenitor: in 1994 he had started work on robots at CSL with artificial intelligence expert Masahiro Fujita. Fujita felt that the robots' behaviors needed to "be sufficiently complex or unexpected so that people keep an interest in watching or taking care of it".[Fujita, M. & Kitano, H. (1998). Development of an autonomous quadruped robot for robot entertainment. Autonomous Robots, 5, 7-20.] Fujita argued at the time that, while technologies such as voice recognition and vision were not mature enough for critical applications, their limited capabilities could be a novel, interesting and attractive feature for "appropriately designed entertainment robots". His early monkey-like prototype "MUTANT" included behaviors such as tracking a yellow ball, shaking hands, karate strikes and sleeping, all of which were later adopted in AIBOs. Fujita received the IEEE Inaba Technical Award for Innovation Leading to Production for AIBO as "the world's first mass-market consumer robot for entertainment applications".
Artist Hajime Sorayama was enlisted to create the initial designs for the AIBO's body. Those designs are now part of the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and the Smithsonian Institution. The first generation AIBO design won Japan's prestigious Good Design Award, Grand Prize and a special Intelligent Design award at the 2000 German Red Dot awards. AIBO was also included in Pirouette: Turning Points in Design, a 2025 exhibition at the MoMA featuring "widely recognized design icons [...] highlighting pivotal moments in design history."Pirouette: Turning Points in Design
In 1997 Doi received backing from Idei to form Sony's Digital Creatures Lab. Believing that robots would be commonplace in households by 2010, but aware of the shortcomings of available technology for functional uses, he decided to focus on robots for entertainment. Depending on the software and model, AIBO can respond to over 100 voice commands in either their own tonal language or voice recordings to mimic human speech, as well as make other noises. Two of the first generation AIBOs exported into the US came to New York, NY and one remains in the archives and displays at Artspace Company Y LLC.
Later models of AIBOs were designed jointly with prestigious Japanese designers, and continued to gain design awards. The ERS-210 design was inspired by lion cubs. The bodies of the "ERS-3x" series (Latte and Macaron, the round-headed AIBOs released in 2001) were designed by visual artist Katsura Moshino winning the Good Design Award. The sleek and futuristic, space-exploration inspired body of the "ERS-220" was designed by Shoji Kawamori, winning the Good Design Award and a Design for Asia award. The ERS-7 also won a Good Design Award.
Almost ten years later, Idei's successor, Howard Stringer closed down AIBO and other robotic projects. Doi then staged a mock funeral, attended by more than 100 colleagues from Sony. At the ceremony, Doi said that the AIBO was a symbol of a risk-taking spirit at Sony that was now dead. Alt URL
In November 2017, Sony Corporation announced that AIBO would return with a new model that would be capable of forming an emotional bond with users.
Models
Prototypes Several prototypes have been displayed by Sony. Early models were insect-like with six legs. The specifications and design of the 1997 and 1998 prototypes, described in a Sony press release, closely match those of the first generation AIBOs. Differences include the use of PC-Cards for memory (rather than MemoryStick media), the use of two batteries, and the option to use a 2-wheeled "rolling module" in place of legs.
First generation models (11x) ERS-110 The first commercially available AIBO, the ERS-110 has a beagle-like appearance and is silver with a golden-brown hue and grey claws. There was a limited production of 5,000 units: 3,000 for Japan and 2,000 for the US market. Sales began on 1 June 1999 and sold out via the Internet in 20 minutes. It is often considered the rarest model of AIBO. The ERS-110 cost 250,000 yen, or US$2,500, which would convert to over $3,500 as of 2020.
ERS-111
The ERS-111 was released in November 1999 and was an improved version of the original AIBO marketed at the same price. It has a similar appearance to ERS-110, with differently shaped ears and a slightly shorter tail, and was available in metallic black or shiny silver with black claws. 40,000 units were manufactured.
Second generation models (2x0, 31x) ERS-210 The ERS-210 was designed to look like a lion cub but was essentially a dog-shape with a flat bull terrier face and Jack Russell Terrier appearance. Initially available in black, silver and gold, it was later released in a variety of Special Edition colors (Holiday Red, Holiday White, Spring White, Spring Orange, Everest White (pearlescent with pink and blue undertones), Mazeran Green, Sapphire Violet and the final color, Cyber Blue). It featured speech recognition capabilities and was the most popular AIBO model with over 65,000 units sold. It sold for around $1,500 at launch which was later reduced to less than $1,000.
ERS-220 The ERS-220 had a more futuristic design based on a space exploration robot concept by Shoji Kawamori. It had a chrome finish with a retractable headlight and colored LEDs. Between 5,000 and 7,000 units were sold, priced at 180,000 yen. Remote operation was possible through an optional wireless local area network. Specifications: height 29.6 cm, 1.5 kg weight, 1.5 hours (default) continuous operation time, 2.5 hours or more operation with a re-celled battery, 16 degrees of freedom (drive unit).
ERS-210A/220A Variants of ERS-210/220 were later released with an improved CPU and head clutch, fixing the problem known in the fandom as DHS (droopy head syndrome) that occurs almost ubiquitously over time with standard 210/220 models. Nearly identical in appearance to the earlier models, they were distinguished by the Super Core logo on the underside of the body. They cost US$1299 at launch.
ERS-31x (Latte and Macaron) The ERS-31x models had an "AIBO's heart" slogan. The original production design illustrator was Katsura Moschino. The price was 98,000 yen or US$950. The "Latte" (ERS-311) is an off-white/cream color with purple eyes and is considered the "friendly" model. The "Macaron" (ERS-312) is mostly black with cream accents and blue eyes and is considered the "naughty" model. (The "friendly" and "naughty" variations were only present in Japanese-language versions of software, though, with English-language versions always running the "friendly" Latte version.) The "Pug" (ERS-31L) is the least common of the three and was $200 cheaper at launch. The ERS-31L has the same body shape but a different face design and is a light brown color. The 31x series dogs are considered to look like a bichon puppy or a bear cub (to the extent that a panda outfit was released specifically for this trio).
ERS 31xB These models are aesthetically identical to the ERS-311 and ERS-312 and feature Bluetooth connection to a handheld "handy" viewer (released only in Japan) which would "translate Aibos thoughts and feelings into text" and enable the handler to play games with them. They can also run some Bluetooth-specific software variations.
Third generation models (7Mx)
The ERS-7 and its successive iterations were the third generation of AIBO robots and the final ones released before the product line's 2006 discontinuation. They were first sold in 2003 and priced between $1500 and $2000. It has been estimated that ERS-7 sold 15,000 units of each variant, M1 to M3, for a total of 45,000 units. The ERS-7M1 was released only in white, the ERS-7M2 was released in white and black, and the ERS-7M3 was released in white, black, and champagne brown.
Fourth generation models ERS-1000
The ERS-1000 was the first aibo model in the product line's revival, released in January 2018. It is equipped with an LTE SIM card to support interaction and learning via cloud computing, requiring a persistent Internet connection and subscription to function fully. This model has a less-robotic and more animal-like appearance than other models. The ERS-1000 can recognize up to 100 faces, responds to over 50 voice commands, and can learn a customizable trick. It sells for about $3,000 and is still available as of 2026.
QRIO
The humanoid QRIO robot was designed as the successor to AIBO and runs the same base R-CODE and Aperios operating system. Its development was halted prior to commercial release.
Hardware The initial ERS-110 AIBO's hardware includes a 64-bit RISC processor, 16 megabytes of RAM, sensors (touch, camera, range-finder, microphone, acceleration, angular velocity), a speaker, and actuators (legs, neck, mouth, tail). As the series developed, more sensors and actuators were added. During the latter half of the second aibo model, 2x0, a revised model named Super Core was released which fixed a flaw in the robots' head clutch which over time caused tilting, panning, and drooping issues, also known as PAS, TAS, and DHS. These revision models also included a much faster processor, hence the name Super Core. Wi-Fi was available as an add-on for some second-generation AIBOs. The third family of AIBOs, the ERS-7s, have multiple head and body sensors, clicking ear actuators, a chest-mounted proximity sensor, expressive "Illume-Face" and Wi-Fi connectivity.
All AIBOs were bundled with accessories including a charging station and pink ball toy. Late-model ERS7's were bundled with a pink AIBone bone-shaped toy (as did the AIBO ERS-1000 models), playing cards, and a charging station with a pole and marker mat for autonomous docking.