Free Republic

In Japan, Aibo robots get their own funeral by Miwa Suzuki AFP-JIJI ISUMI, CHIBA PREF. – The robot dogs lined up in their dozens last Thursday in Chiba Prefecture were no tech fair display. They were the dearly departed being honored with their own traditional “funeral.” In some respects, it was a funeral like any other in Japan, with incense smoke wafting as a priest chanted a sutra, praying for the peaceful transition of the souls of the departed. But the departed were 114 of Sony’s old generations of Aibo robot dogs, each wearing a tag to show where they...

He may not be able to give you a run for your money but one quick step for Sony Corp.'s Qrio humanoid robot is one big step for robots in general. Electronics and entertainment giant Sony said on Thursday that it had developed the world's first running -- okay, jogging -- robot. "All around the world, universities and think tanks have been researching how to make robots run but we are pleased to announce that we have done it first," Toshi Doi, an executive vice president at Sony told a news conference. The sleek and diminutive Qrio, which until recently...