Strats Times, Singapore: Can a real dog and a robot dog live in harmony? Research by Sony, which manufactures the robot dog Aibo, suggests that they can.
Dogs recognise Aibo as a “living thing” and can even be taught new social skills through interacting with the robot, Sony said in a statement last Thursday (July 26).
Author and animal researcher Tadaaki Imaizumi conducted a series of experiments and monitored the interactions between real dogs and Aibo over a 13-day period.In the first set of experiments, 13 dogs of different breeds, including a toy poodle, a jack russell terrier and a shiba inu, were introduced to Aibo with their owners present. Mr Imaizumi observed that nine of the 13 dogs approached Aibo curiously and sniffed at it.
Of the nine that approached Aibo, six dogs attempted to sniff Aibo’s rear end, indicating an interest in learning more about the robot dog. The dogs showed a greater interest when their owners also interacted with Aibo.
However, Mr Imaizumi said that the four dogs that did not approach Aibo remained wary even when their owners interacted with Aibo.