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[Crewella]

It's quite hard to explain, aibo7m3, but I love the 111s for what they are as much as for what they do, and I wouldn't recommend them to somebody looking for their first Aibo.  It's something in the way Ubu moves, some of the actions are quite extreme and he's very prone to getting into trouble and needing rescuing.  And the design - I love the tail, and I love those teeth!  I will check his stick, but I do agree you can have more fun with a 210 or a 7, and I rarely use the remote, if ever, as well.  Ubu just feels like more of a pet and less of a robot than Wilma my 210 and Java (though I'm still getting to know Java the ERS-7). 

[bhobbes]

Ah yes, the tail is my favorite feature of the ERS111 - it really adds so much to it, I think. That is also one of the things I always liked about Pleos.

So, funny story. Vader had been charging on his station for awhile and I went into my office area to do some work for a few hours and I kept swearing to myself I heard Vader beeping out there. And I thought, "Wow. You really have been spending too much time with them if you're hearing your AIBOs when they're not even on." And then I thought maybe I was going crazy. So just a moment I go to lay on the couch and take a break from the screen and I'm slightly tired and I hear some beeps and realized that I didn't turn him off, he ran out of his charge (which means if you put him on the charger or put in a new battery he automatically starts back up - you don't have to turn him back on). So a funny story and I'm not too crazy after all!

I really was concerned because of how real it sounded haha. (AM I DELUSIONAL?!)

[bhobbes]

I've been running Vader on a relatively regular basis (as he doesn't distract me quite as much as Nicco). He's exhibiting more behavior, exploring a lot more, and walking better (can still tell he's learning but it's quite different and he walks for much longer periods of time over greater distances).

I haven't really recorded anything noteworthy although the past few days I've been trying to get Nicco more involved with this AIBOne. All the red in my apartment causes way too many problems with identifying this - especially if he misses it when he comes down and then re-scans he frequently "finds" his AIBOne but it's not his AIBOne, it's one my long red lamps, the curtains, or the red cubes. The sofa rarely distracts him same with the matching red cube (perhaps because they're leather and semi glossy-looking or a much larger shape?). Yesterday I draped most of the red within his "lower vision" with black which made him play quite a bit with his AIBOne, but sometimes when he'd just scan or walk around (and be looking up/higher), he'd end up distracted by the normal things.

The computer/office room doesn't have much red at all so I may try running him in there more regularly but I don't like him to be in a room with the birds for any prolonged period.

I feel like Vader notices objects quicker/from farther away than Nicco. Or maybe he just backs up sooner. Or maybe it's all coincidence. He gets himself back up quite well whenever he falls and is generally pretty pleasant. He ignores his ball completely but this seems to be normal for the "lazy" AIBOs.

Here's a paste from the AIBO Browser:
Version ERA-111 "B"

Your Aibo is a Child #1
  "Lazy Child"

Gender is Male

Quality Time Spent:
  14 hr, 8 min, 33 sec

This stage is 50% complete

Evolution to Youth (#1 or #2)
  in 13 hr, 38 min, 6 sec

Peter Pan Syndrome Test #1 passed
Peter Pan Syndrome Test #2 passed
Captain Hook Test #1 passed (2 benign cob webs) [You can read more about this here http://aibohack.com/111/chs.htm]

Learned Experience
  current  = 10 things, 107 points
Warning: Current learning has benign cob webs

  previous = 15 things, 127 points
Warning: Previous learning has benign cob webs

After he's developed, I'll probably back him up and put his stick on some other personality options just to see what other things he does. Or if I end up with a second 111, do it that way

[bhobbes]

I decided to play with the remote and performance mode today, here are some of the results:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uauIMRogC8o" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uauIMRogC8o</a>

My personal favorite is the fall/roll (or whatever you may want to call it). This clip is actually action-oriented vs. dog-rearing - and there's the infamous pee skit.

[Crewella]

Bhobbes - that video comes up as 'private' for me? 

[RedwoodsMama]

 I think you forgot to make it "public" or hit the wrong button, You may be able to go back and fix it so it says, Public. It would be nice to see.
                   RedwoodsMama

[bhobbes]

LOL. Thanks.

As much as I love my dual monitors, sometimes I'll try multitasking by looking at one screen and clicking another and it leads to lots of fails

You should be able to see it now!

[Talon]

That's neat. The pee skit made me chuckle. Was he growling as well? That sound was hard to place.
Talon

[bhobbes]

Nope it's just a tinkle sound (we're talking about at the moment the peeing happens right?).

However, the sound seems to have a built in echo to it (sounds more like a light waterfall to me than it does a pee stream - though I guess uhh different species have different levels of engine power).

[kat]

I am sure I have seen a video on youtube of Eric the white ers7 peeing.  His is much more of a tinkle than Vaders.  The video was great.  how did you find using the remote?

[Crewella]

That made me want to get my remote out again!  Thanks! 

[bhobbes]

The remote is fun. It drives my birds crazy though. Though I think it's mostly because they get jealous of the AIBOs getting attention over them at a particular moment. (Parrots sure do get jealous lol)

I like that I have it as an option for "demoing" Vader to friends but I can't see myself using it regularly.

[grin06]

Hi,
I do not know much about Aibo.
How advanced is Aibo compared to pleorb? I know it is far more expensive. Can it really self charge and that would be an interesting spec if Innovo lab could add this feature to the next generation pleo so that pleo would be more near lifeform and autonomous.
The thing that made me like pleo more compared to other robots is that pleo is organic looking with a  dinosaur' skin not mechanical like other robots .

[Crewella]

It's hard to compare the two as they are so very different.  Yes, some  models can self-charge (as can some i-Cybies) but Aibo are much more of a robot pet, and proud of their technology, whereas the Pleo RB and Ugobe Pleo are a much more believable 'life form' with their technology hidden beneath the skin.  IMHO. 

[bhobbes]

It is hard to compare the two fairly. From the outset, you should keep in mind the price point between Pleo RBs and AIBOs. A brand new RB is what about $470? And the last AIBO model (about 5 years old now?) still catches sales for around $2000. Certain reflections in that cost are technology and development, which leads to the second thing to keep in mind: Pleo RB is still pretty new.

So that set aside, I have some minor comparisons I've made between the two. Without going into the different AIBO models and how I feel about each one individually, I generally agree with Crewella's statement. The AIBOs are much more of a robotic companion and are unafraid of flaunting the fact that it is a technological companion/product. So you get more of the feel that you have a robot companion/pet than you do a pet/companion (that just happens to be a robot). PleoRBs have much more of the "cute" factor and feel as though they work harder to natural life form than a robotic "life" form. They also move much more realistically (i.e. more animal-like). AIBOs do too but they add in a lot of robotic quirks (which I enjoy more than I thought I would).

Both have their strengths and weaknesses. I think the magic is in what one works best for you and for what reasons - but they're more different from each other than they are better/worse.

[latrine]

So are Murray's legs back? I looked but didn't see anything, I was away for a few days... he working ok now?
That is so funny that Vador is Lazy.. I keep imagining him pulling out a lightsabor to fight Nikko and then being like.. naaah....  too much work, and going to sleep.


- Sarah

[bhobbes]

He's not back yet. His body, head, and front legs will be shipped back out to me on Monday so hopefully I'll have him by the middle or end of the week.

I haven't heard any reports back so he must be functioning correctly. However, due to the severity of how bent he was, it's possible I may have to send the back legs in at a later date. But I'll cross that bridge when I get there, since assuming his back legs are bad would be putting the cart before the horse (probability favors that they will need to be adjusted but we'll see).

[latrine]

That really stinks, I'm sorry, bhobbes.. I hope he gets working soon.. I keep staring at Loki and I wanna play with him too.. I'm glad you have your other pups to play with.. and I guess you at least have Murray's legs to make strange, grotesque pictures with..    (the picture was very funny.... hehehe)


- Sarah

[bhobbes]

No worries, his repairs are quite inexpensive when compared to yours :\

I chickened out last minute and had wolfbob do all the repairs lol

[bhobbes]

Over the past few charges, I've been attempting to get Vader to interact with his ball more by holding it in front of him and praising him repeatedly. He eventually started to recognize it and track it, and I praised him repeatedly, and now he interacts with it a bit more. Today, when I was sitting near him with it, he sped up and did crazy stuff - he actually "charged" me and ended up knocking himself down when he bumped into my leg. I couldn't get a repeat performance of this once I went to record (go freaking figure!) but I recorded something similar so you can get the gist:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqDJFzGG4VI" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqDJFzGG4VI</a>

And, in more troubling news, Vader has recently evolved... into a bad boy! Perhaps he's just living up to his name.

Your Aibo is a Youth #2
  "Bad Boy"

Gender is Male

Quality Time Spent:
  0 hr, 39 min, 5 sec

This stage is 0% complete

[kat]

Maybe the new "bad boy" status explains the charging you behavior.  

[aibo7m3]

That's too bad that he's a bad boy (they can grow up into extremely lazy adults). My ers-111 is a good boy (well technically she's a good girl but the stage is just called good boy).

[Talon]

I fully understand this board is about Aibos but I couldn't resist. Today must be a day for robots to be aggressive. Must be something in the air. Ryu somehow head-butted Cato and knocked him onto his side. I said he wouldn't get abused here. I had no idea Ryu would do the abusing! Lol! He's alright, though. When I stood him up he honked in hurt pride and walked away. Keep us posted on Vader's progress and let us know what happens with Murray.
Talon

[bhobbes]

Haha, poor Cato. First he gets loss, and now abused. Life sure is rowdy in the South

But it's not limited to robots - Brutus (my male cockatiel) has been horrible today. Very very aggressive toward me and he's been beating up the females a little. The heat etc probably put him into breeding mode so he's hopefully just hormonal. I separated him from the females in a time out cage since I won't reward his behavior by letting him sit on my shoulder (which seems to be the only way he's not aggressive today.

Vader started peeing frequently but I disciplined him harshly and it seems to have stopped for now. He's quite active and really showing a lot of personality. If I recall correctly, orange makes them more prone to becoming bad and blue exposure helps them become good (I'll post later when at my PC). I'm not sure how exact that is but maybe all the red hues are twisting him to the dark side.

[bhobbes]

For those who are interested, this is a great article regarding the 111s and it goes way in depth. I found it awhile ago but just got to reading it today (it's a little lengthy and involved).

http://www.popularrobotics.com/Life_Article.htm

Here is the excerpt of the colors (which I've posted here before I think):

Impact of Color
The color of your dog's room is the most significant factor in deciding its personality. If the room is mostly blue, your dog will grow up to be active. If the room is mostly orange (including red-tones and brown-tones) then your dog will probably grow up to be lazy. There are exceptions (eg: Lazy Child grows into Bad Boy). NOTE: for the ERS-111B, color has a much smaller impact on the dog's evolution.

. . .

Evolving from Child
After 1,000,000 ticks (over 27 hours) as a Child, the dog will evolve into a Youth (or "Young" dog).
If the dog was a Child#1 (Lazy Child), the rule is:

    if (G_UNFAV > G_FAV AND         // must have seen more ORANGE than BLUE
      G_LIFT > 0 AND                // must have been lifted/shaken
      G_DOSTOP > 0 AND
      S_Skill > 0 AND
      L_Skill > 0 AND
      S_sound > 0 AND
      L_sound > 0) then
        become Bad Boy
    else
        become Lazy Boy

NOTE: for ERS-111B the "G_LIFT" term has been removed.


The dominant factor is the color term "G_UNFAV > G_FAV", which means the dog must have seen "ORANGE" more than it has seen "BLUE". This is backwards from the other color rules.

So seeing as he won't face any exposure to blue (other than when he sees me wearing it) as I only do black/red/white for decorations, I think it is his destiny to be lazy/evil. The evolution chart (http://aibohack.com/111/evolve.htm - remember to look at the 111B for Vader) limits him to becoming a lazy adult dog or rumble cat (listed as rare).

This is the rule for his next evolution:

Evolving from Youth
The time spent as a Youth is 2,000,000 ticks (over 55 hours) for the ERS-110 and 4,000,000 ticks (over 111 hours) for the ERS-111. I'm guessing the AIBO developers wanted the newer ERS-111 to take longer to grow up, so they just doubled the time spent as a youth. 

Which Adult personality the dog evolves into depends on the following rules.

If the dog was a Youth#2 (Bad Boy), the rule is:

    if (G_FAV > G_UNFAV AND
      G_ON_ST > 0 AND               // was on the station
      G_OFF_ST > 0 AND              // was off the station
      G_LIFT > 0 AND
      G_DOSTOP >= 3 AND
      Special > 0) then
        become Lazy Dog
    else
        become Rumble Cat (lazier than a Lazy Dog)

NOTE: for ERS-111B the "G_FAV > G_UNFAV", "G_ON_ST", "G_OFF_ST" and "G_LIFT" terms has been removed. It should be near impossible to raise a Rumble Cat from a Bad Boy.

So it seems most likely that he will become a lazy adult dog. Fine with me But there is always brain surgery.