The first generation of household robot, a robot dog called Aibo, was designed and massed-produced by Sony in January 2001.

The excitement it generated was long-lasting. It is the first time we see a functional robot, even though a very simple one, that lives in households. A robotic companion is no longer in science fiction. The success of Aibo is a culminant point of artificial intelligence (and robotics, of course), and it provides more challenges for the future research of AI. The basic functions of Aibo requires a rule-based system, through which Aibo recognizes basic commands, recognizes th ... Read more »