The corporation that brought the first mass-produced entertainment robot to market in 1999
Headquarters
Tokio
Employee
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Sony was founded in Tokyo in 1946 and is one of the world's largest electronics corporations. For robotics, the company is significant primarily because of a single product line: the robotic dog AIBO, which became the first entertainment robot ever to go into mass production in 1999.
The current aibo ERS-1000 weighs 2.2 kilograms and features 22 degrees of freedom, distributed across the head, mouth, neck, hip, legs, ears, and tail. Two OLED displays with animated pupils serve as eyes. Integrated are two cameras, four microphones, a time-of-flight sensor, touch sensors on the head, chin, and back, as well as paw pads, connected via LTE and WLAN. The predecessor ERS-110 from 1999 came with just eighteen joints and no voice recognition.
Until the first generation was discontinued in 2006, over 150,000 AIBO units were built. In June 2026, Sony discontinued sales in Japan, while sales continue in the USA, and support and cloud services remain available. This makes the aibo the only device in its category that has ever functioned as a mass-market product for private households.
aibo ERS-1000
Quadruped · Companion Robot
AIBO ERS-110 / ERS-111
Quadruped · discontinued 2006
Launch of the AIBO ERS-110 on May 11, the first mass-produced entertainment robot.
Discontinuation of the first AIBO generation after over 150,000 units built.
Restart of the line with the aibo ERS-1000.
Sales in Japan discontinued in June; distribution in the USA continues.
The aibo was never officially sold in Europe and is not regularly available in Switzerland.