What is an aibo?

This morning, I was awake at 4 AM.  I just didn’t feel like going back to bed after I had a Klondike ice cream bar in the wee hours of the morning. I happened to read another author’s tweet about entering a contest and decided to check it out. I didn’t have a topic for today’s post, and lo and behold there in the final judge’s bio was the term aibo robotic dog.  I wrote a series called Tomorrow’s Angels about sentient humanoid androids and avidly read anything I see about AI. Aibo (stylized aibo is Japanese for “pal” or “partner” and is a series of robotic dogs designed and manufactured by Sony. Aibo is abbreviated from Artificial Intelligence RoBO. In mid-1998—where was I? Ah, yes, living in Miami Beach, I think, with my 2 sons and my Andalusian stallion—but I digress, and the stallion wasn’t robotic.) Sony released the prototype in May of 1999, thereafter releasing new models until 2006. Most models were dogs, but other inspirations included lion cubs,, huskies, Jack Russell terriers, bull terrier, and space explorers. Only the ERS-7, ERS-110/111 and ERS-1000 versions were explicitly a "robotic dog", but the 210 can also be considered a dog. It has a Jack Russel appearance and face. In 2006, AIBO was added into the Carnegie Mellon University Robot Hall of Fame.

On 26 January 2006 Sony announced the discontinuance of AIBO and several other products in an effort to make the company more profitable. Sony's AIBO customer support was withdrawn gradually, with support for the final ERS-7M3 ending in March 2013.^[6] In July 2014, Sony stopped providing repairs for AIBO products and did not provide customer support or repair for the older AIBO robots.

In November 2017, Sony introduced a new generation of AIBO. The fourth-gen model, ERS-1000, was launched in Japan on 11 January 2018. The second lottery sale was set on 6 February 2018. The AIBO product line was developed at Sony's Computer Science Laboratory (CSL)

I know we all now want an aibo, right? Sony has launched a new Aibo robot dog in limited edition Black Sesame, following its last release in 2017.  Priced at $2,900 USD, Sony's limited edition Aibo robot dog in Black Sesame is now available on the Sony online store. They don’t have fur and don’t look really cuddly to me.

The latest Aibo robot dog has a gray coat with a choice of eye colors, i.e., blue, green, orange, and pink. In appearance it resembles the previous model, and it also features the same functions of facial recognition and everyday interactions through which it can develop its unique personality. Owners can name their robot pet, watch its growth and add new tricks through the artificial intelligence-powered by the aibo AI Cloud Plan. Pet owners can stay connected with their aibo with the “My aibo” app. In addition, gadgets ranging from playtime accessories like a bone-shaped toy, a die, and a pink ball to necessities—food and water bowls and virtual pet food — can be bought for an immersive experience.

The Alzheimer's Store advertises a robot cat that purrs and has a gentle and calming temperament. The cat interacts with its owner, and presumably other as well. They recommend it as a doll and pet therapy. The cat resembles a Ragdoll cat I owned years ago.  The price tag is a little more reasonable at $189.  Alzheimer's doll and pet therapy is a known resource in helping those with Dementia. Using a robotic or a baby doll can be a very effective way for a person with Alzheimer's or other forms of dementia to decrease stress and agitation.  They also have dogs and teddy bears.

If you are interested in advanced robotics and romance, you might like my Love For Sale and Life for Sale.  Here’s the series blurb.

Tomorrow’s Angels

Mayfair Electronics has created life.

In Love for Sale, the high-tech electronics company, in black and white, offers “love for sale”. Mayfair has engineered sentient androids indistinguishable from humans. March Morgan flies to England and meets the man she has been searching for her entire life. Christian requires no programming to love March at first sight, but her past and his future soon threaten their happiness—and their lives.

In the sequel, Life for Sale, four of the Special Editions have escaped. Rebel, Christian and  March are on the run, but they have a bigger problem than his creator's plan to destroy him. They've discovered that one of the renegades has suffered a dangerous malfunction, threatening them with more than just exposure. March and Christian must stop the insane robot before someone else dies. All the evidence points to March being the killer's next victim.

Book Video:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-0_M7Zlaok

Both are available on Amazon in print and eBook.  Love for Sale is in audio on Audible. The narrator is very good and has the right accent for the character.

Happy robotic dreams!

Linda 

Humanlike Androids - The future?

 

In the 2020 Paranormal Romance Guild’s Reviewer’s Choice Awards, Life for Sale was nominated in Romance/Sci-fi and the series (Love for Sale and Life for Sale about humanlike androids) was nominated in Romance/Sci-fi-Series. How much of these books predicts the future of android technology? 

 Most. It may take 10-20 years to achieve the programming necessary for android feelings and complete autonomous movement (able to walk on human-like legs), but robot technology is on its way to achieving the Special Editions in Life for Sale and Love for Sale, my sci-fi romances about humanlike androids. The Special Editions are totally human in almost every way. They do not eat (no digestive system). In Sleep Mode, they must be near a power outlet to absorb energy. Tears and other bodily fluids must be replenished by infusions into the android’s body. This only occurs every ten years in normal use.

 To add to the pages of sci-fi happening as we speak, humanlike robots are in development that will come near to mimicking human emotions and facial expressions. These robots are in their infancy but amazing!

 Recently, Toshiba introduced Junko Chihira, a very realistic human-like android. She is 5’5”, 26 years old, and her birthday is 6/1. She works in a new tourist information center in Japan. The android speaks Japanese, Chinese, and English—handy if you work in the tourist trade. A hotel in Japan has a robot staff though I read they hat to fire ½ of their robot workers. I wonder if it was for sexual harassment! A female android named Geminoid F stars in a Japanese film from director Koji Fukada. "Sayonara" premiered at the Tokyo International Film Festival.

Erika is a creation of Osaka University, Koyo University, and ATR. She was ‘born’ in Japan in 2015 (the year Love for Sale was published). When Erika is listening, she blinks and moves her eyes and head. The following link is a YouTube video of Erika and a child, illustration AI’s possibilities with children. She is pretty and interacts well. She pauses while she processes in this conversation, but her answers do not sound at all scripted but real-time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFT7iM3FDUI&feature=youtu.be

Probably the most life-like is the android Sophia by Hanson Robotics. Sophia has appeared on The Tonight Show as well as addressed a UN committee. She has been granted citizenship by Saudi Arabia.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omgJi5-YT6U

Hanson boasts other robots, one designed to look like Einstein.

In 2005, Hanson debuted Philip K. Dick II. He was designed by David Hanson as a robotic version of the popular writer of sci-fi. The original Philip K. Dick android was lost on a flight from Dallas to San Francisco in late 2005. However, in 2011 Hanson Robotics, together with Dutch broadcasting firm VPRO, developed a new version, including state of the art computer vision technology. This robot employs 36 servomotors to power a complex and wide range of facial expressions. These days, PKD serves researchers at the Apollo Mind Initiative.

These are just a few representatives of the strides we are making in humanoid robots. The androids in my books, all products of imagination, are getting closer. In Love for Sale, the androids are being sold as the perfect lovers. Even now, robots are being used as companions for the elderly, in nursing homes, and as teachers with success.

 Would you buy one? I would.

Christian from Love for Sale and Life for Sale:

 

Interview with March Morgan Aguillard from Life for Sale

 In my sci-fi romance, Life for Sale, the heroine is March Morgan, who has now married Christian Aguillard, a sentient, entirely human-like android capable of emotions, up to and including love. In fact Christian was programmed to love March when she signed on the dotted line, paying an exorbitant price for him. But she couldn't resist once she'd met him. Would you agree he's worth it?

March, shall we begin?

What is your greatest temptation?

            In men:           Tall, blonde, blue eyes. I prefer long hair. The man must have a sense of humor and be intelligent. Charming and handsome are big bonuses. (she laughs) I’ve just described Christian. I should have asked him to come along. If you passed him on the street, you’d take a look but not because he’s an android. Because he’s a hunk.

            In food:          I’m particularly fond of seafood but won’t turn down a nice steak prepared Pittsburg style (charred on the outside; rare inside).

            In clothes:       Tadashi Shoji, but I usually can’t afford him unless I find a dress on eBay. So, I settle for pretty business suits to wear to work.

 

What is your greatest weakness (example: buying shoes)? Other than Christian? I’d have to say Shoji’s fashions though I wouldn’t rule out shoes.

 

If you could have any kind of car, what would it be?       Red 1964 Jaguar XKE

 

Your dream home - mountains or ocean? Ocean. I love to watch the waves and listen to them whispering to me. Christian and I live by Galveston Bay, and I absolutely love it. When a storm grumbles and the sea is restless, the view is exquisite. So, inspiring I want to paint. Good thought, poor resolution—I can’t even draw a straight line.

 

What is your favorite book?   Silver Metal Lover by Tanith Lee. It’s a coming of age story about a rich, young woman and a completely human-like android. I loved that book long before I met Christian. I adore Tanith Lee’s writing style. Have you ever read Dark Dance? It’s a paranormal. I’d highly recommend the Silver Metal Lover series and Dark Dance.

 

If your life were made into a movie, what actress would you want to play you and who for Christian?  For me, Marilyn Monroe, but, unfortunately, I look nothing like her. For Christian, definitely Travis Fimmel (pre-Viking days. Like this photo but imagine him a year or two older. Even now, I swoon over the half-dressed photo, do you? Hint: Christian looks just as good half-naked…or without a stitch on. (She smiles)

If you were given the opportunity to spend a day with any person, living or dead, who would it be?  Queen Victoria. She was such a power unto herself. She might have been petite like me, but she ruled Britain with the iron fist in the velvet glove. After his death, she mourned her Albert for the rest of her life. That is the kind of love I dreamed of but could never find until, a tiny ad in a woman’s magazine advertising Love for Sale. With great trepidation, I followed my heart and he was waiting at the end of my journey. I saw him and the emptiness inside disappeared. I had to have him. I cleaned out my 401K to buy him, you understand, but despite the danger we now face, I don’t regret signing on that dotted line or one penny spent.

 Do you have a hobby?   I read quite a lot. I have been known to crochet a bad hat. I’ve just taken up snorkeling in preparation for our cruise from the Turks and Caicos. We heard that the snorkeling was fantastic at Smith’s Reef on the largest of the 40 islands (called Provid by locals) that make up the T&C. Christian won’t have any problem managing the fins, but there’s a short circuit somewhere between my brain and my feet.

 How do you maintain an android?  Believe it or not, they come with operating instructions and a maintenance guide as well as guidelines on how to deactivate your android, heaven forbid. Each has a kill switch hidden in different places on the body. I feel like that would be murder. Since they are basically built to be immortal, the only real concerns is the liquid to use in tears, for example. There are other fluids that must be replenished, but this is a PG post. The reservoirs, with too much use…can run dry. (she blushes) At that point, you can order said liquids from Mayfair and DIY, or you can return to Mayfair to have it done. Under the circumstances, you can return to Mayfair and let them do it. Ours aren’t normal at all. We and three other Special Editions are on the run from their creator.

 As to the care and feeding of your perfect lover, he or she must go into Sleep Mode somewhere near a power outlet, not necessarily an electrical plug-in but any power source will do, and will come awake refreshed and ready to go. The Special Editions do not have a digestive system and do not eat. Other than these minor lacks, you can’t tell them from human. Immediately, and today, I continue to, think of Christian as human. His brain may be a computer and his heart a central processor, but he is the man I love.

~*~

Life for Sale is Book II in the Tomorrow's Angels series. The first book is Love for Sale. Here's the blurb for the series.

Tomorrow’s Angels: Series Blurb

 Mayfair Electronics has created life.

In Love for Sale, the high-tech electronics company, in black and white, offers “love for sale”. Mayfair has engineered sentient androids indistinguishable from humans. March Morgan flies to England and meets the man she has been searching for her entire life. Christian requires no programming to love March at first sight, but her past and his future soon threaten their happiness—and their lives.

In the sequel, Life for Sale, four of the Special Editions have escaped. Rebel, Christian and  March  are on the run, but they have a bigger problem than his creator's plan to destroy him. They've discovered that one of the renegades has suffered a dangerous malfunction, threatening them with more than just exposure. March and Christian must stop the insane robot before someone else dies. All the evidence points to March being the killer's next victim.

Excerpt of Life for Sale:

March shivered again, rested her face on his chest. “Hold me until I stop trembling.” Tears she didn’t want him to see welled in her eyes. The whole ghastly business had to be hard on a man encoded to protect not harm humans.

Her AI angel stroked her hair, and a sob broke through her control. She squeezed her eyes shut, battling tears.

“Shush, dear. It’s over now,” but he didn’t sound confident. The thing buried in the backyard could tear them apart or worse.  Any slight misstep, and they both faced Death in all his chilling glory.

“I love you,” she whispered.

He brushed a kiss to her lips and pulled her closer.

For some time, they stood. taking comfort from holding each other and simply being, then, hand-in-hand, they walked, when they wanted to run, to the house. Christian had switched on the overhead light in the anteroom. In the brilliance, it was possible to pretend the past few minutes hadn’t occurred. Again the tears threatened, and he held her until she’d regained control. She straightened, gazing into his eyes. Battered emotions stained them darker blue. Mayfair hadn’t missed even that small detail. He cradled her face between his hands and kissed her tenderly, his lips soft and his body close. In a lifetime of searching, she’d never have found anyone like him. If she were to lose him…she couldn’t imagine living without him.

Once, Mayfair had taken him away.  They could do it again—and there was absolutely nothing she could do about it. The golden ring on the third finger of his left hand should protect Christian from Mayfair, but who’d investigate a missing robot, or even believe her in the first place?

With almost religious fervor, she and Christian had adhered to Mayfair’s first commandment. Above all, the company demanded secrecy. The Special Editions passed for human, and no one was ever to know that Mayfair had engendered life, but at any moment Aguillard, the wild card for whom the Christian line was named, might renege on the freedom he’d grudgingly bestowed.

Her cell rang, ending their moment of respite.

Buy Link

~*~

Happy Holidays, everyone! Be happy, be healthy, and have fun.

 Linda  

AIs and Healthcare by Diane Burton

When I saw 2001: A Space Odyssey for the first time, the HAL 9000 computer really scared me. Could an Artificial Intelligence become so smart it would kill humans to stay alive? That had to be a worst-case scenario for AIs.

photo credit: IMDB

 

What about The Terminator sent by Skynet?

 

photo credit: IMDB

AIs can be scary in science fiction movies and books. I recently started reading The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells. Fascinating stories about an android, designed to be an assassin, who becomes self-aware.

 

photo credit: Amazon

One of the things I enjoyed about the Terminator movies was the humor. “I’ll be back.” In my Outer Rim series, starting with The Pilot, Celara’s sidekick and copilot android adds much needed humor during stressful situations. I loved writing RJ and incorporated him in the other books in the series.

 

While AIs are fun or scary in science fiction, science is using artificial intelligence in many useful ways. One way is to forecast future disease outbreaks and pandemics. Considering the current pandemic, I found it interesting that a health monitoring AI, Bluedot, issued warnings about the spread of covid-19 before the WHO and the CDC.

 Imagine reading through heath reports from throughout the world. How long would it take you or me to find trends? Days, months, years? An AI platform could do that so much faster. Like lightning quick. Then those trends could be analyzed by epidemiologists and, hopefully, give us earlier warnings.

 AIs thrive on data. But in the end, humans need to know what to do with what the AIs tell us. They analyze the trends, issue advice and/or warnings, preparing us for whatever dangers lie ahead. Of course, we need to pay attention to those warnings and act accordingly.

  

If you’re curious, here are a couple of articles you might find interesting about AIs and Heathcare.

 

https://medicalfuturist.com/7-things-you-can-expect-from-a-i-in-healthcare/

https://medicalfuturist.com/how-digital-health-technology-can-help-manage-the-coronavirus-outbreak/

 

From the Pages of Sci-fi

Toshiba builds computers, right?

To add to the pages of sci-fi happening as we speak, humanlike robots are in development that will come near to mimicking human emotions and facial expressions. These robots are in their infancy but amazing!

Toshiba has introduced Junko Chihira, a most realistic human-like android they’ve named Junko Chihira.  She is 5’5”, 26 years old, and her birthday is 6/1.  She works in a new tourist information center in Japan. The android speaks Japanese, Chinese, and English—handy if you work in the tourist trade.

A female android named Geminoid F stars in a Japanese film from director Koji Fukada called "Sayonara," which premiered at the Tokyo International Film Festival.

Erika is a creation of Osaka University, Koyo University, and ATR. She was ‘born’ in Japan in 2015. When Erika is listening, she blinks and moves her eyes and head, like a human. The following link is a YouTube video of Erika and a child, illustration AI’s possibilities with children. She,q too, is pretty and interacts well. She pauses while she processes in this conversation, but her answers do not sound at all scripted but real-time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFT7iM3FDUI&feature=youtu.be

But probably the most life-like is the android Sophia by Hanson Robotics. Sophia has appeared on The Tonight Show was well as addressed a UN committee. She has been granted citizenship by Saudi Arabia.

https://twitter.com/RealSophiaRobot/status/1258381654642561027/video/1

Hanson boasts other robots, one designed to look like Einstein. Just a few of the many are:

Philip K. Dick II was debuted in 2005, designed by David Hanson as a robotic paean of sci-fi writer of the same name. The original Philip K. Dick android was lost on a flight from Dallas to San Francisco in late 2005. However, in 2011 Hanson Robotics, together with Dutch broadcasting firm VPRO, developed a new version, including state of the art computer vision technology and employs 36 servomotors to power a complex and wide range of facial expressions. These days, PKD serves researchers at the Apollo Mind Initiative.

Jules was activated in 2006 and debuted at the Wired Nextfest that year, Hanson Robotics and partner Personality Forge created Jules for the University of West England in Bristol. Still in residence at UWE, Jules incorporates a number of advanced technologies that make him an eerily realistic and conversant android, including natural language AI, computer vision and facial tracking.

From Hanson’s website: “On the tree of robotic life, human-like robots play a particularly valuable role. It makes sense. Humans are brilliant, beautiful, compassionate, lovable, and capable of love, so why shouldn’t we aspire to make robots human-like in these ways? Don’t we want robots to have such marvelous capabilities as love, compassion, and genius?”

~*~

In Love For Sale, concurrently available from The Wild Rose Press, a divorced dreamer buys a sentient android who is totally human-like, as her companion, and they fall in love. That’s only the beginning of their story. There are forces from his past and his future that threaten their happiness—and their life. COMING THIS SUMMER: - Life for Sale, the sequel.

Buy Link:  https://www.amazon.com/Love-Sale-Linda-Nightingale-ebook/dp/B00XCZ6EVY/ref=sr_1_11?dchild=1&keywords=linda+nightingale&qid=1588969404&sr=8-11

Sci-Fi Romance or Sci-Fi fact?

This may seem to fly off the pages of science fiction, but it’s a hot new research field and making rapid progress.

At the Toshiba booth at the Consumer Electronics show, Chihira Aico, a life-sized robot in a pink party dress with pearls, stood like a mannequin, perfectly still—at first. Suddenly, the android began to gesture wildly.

“I can be a news reader, consultant or cheerleader!” She threw her arms up and squealed, “I can get excited!”

Chihira is a new concept for a life-like android. Her creators intend to make her seem even more expressive when interacting with humans. By adding additional motors to her joints, engineers are refining her movements to make them appear fluid while programmers work on her language processing, improving her communications skills and responsiveness.  The ultimate goal is for the robot to read human behaviors and emotions, then mimic them, thereby appearing human herself.

This complicated piece of hardware has over 40 motors in her joints to coordinate her body’s movements. Fifteen tiny air pumps on her fact control the blinking of her eyes and the opening of her mouth as she speaks. Toshiba developed Chihira under the direction of Hitoshi Tokuda, the project leader. Osaka University performed the muscle research, building on previous work on prosthetic limbs.

On-lookers thought Chihira was creepy. What do you think?

A hi-tech hotel in Japan, Nagasaki prefecture's Henn-na Hotel, opening in July will employ ten robots at the check-in counter as receptionists. If you think these humanoid androids are creepy, you might think twice about visiting this hotel. They can establish eye contact and respond to body language.

A recent Pew report entitled, “A.I., Robotics, and the Future of Jobs,” suggests that while it might be some time before we see a robot takeover of our workforce, we’ll be having sex with them sooner than we think. Hum. Interesting. Would you find a sentient being programmed to love you disturbing?  When I wrote Love For Sale, I didn’t know about the Japanese life-like robots. I don’t find them creepy but extremely interesting. I’d love to interact with a human-like android.

My sci-fi romance, Love For Sale, is about Christian and March.  March is a disenchanted dreamer. Christian is her dream man, but…inside he’s all circuits and wires while outside he is perfectly human and programmed to love her unconditionally. 

Blurb:

March Morgan still believes in true love, but her faith in finding her soul mate is slowly vanishing.  She’s been married but never in love.  So, it is a miracle to find that fantasy exists on the last page of a glossy women’s journal.  Mayfair Electronics, Ltd., in black and white, offers Love for Sale.  The London firm has engineered sentient androids indistinguishable from human.  She flies to England and meets the man she has been searching for her entire life.

Christian requires no programming to love March at first sight.  He’s handsome, cultured…absolutely perfect…and a little different from the other androids.  He has an unexpected independent streak.

March signs on the dotted line, buying her dream man.  They return to Houston, but soon her past and his future threaten their Happily Ever After—indeed their lives.

Excerpt:

Her heart shattered as he turned and walked away. Grief winded her. At the door, he glanced over his shoulder, again shaking his head. He was stunningly handsome, looked sad and hurt, but there was no apology in his intense gaze. Hands fisted at her sides, she tried to control the storm of fear, anger, resentment and pain.

“Where the hell are you going?” Her voice came brusque, short.

“For a walk to let you think and cool down.” Light and shadow chiseled his face, and her breaking heart skipped a beat.

“You can’t walk out. It’s impossible for you. You’re faulty in some circuit somewhere. I’m going to return you.”

The most beautiful man in the world froze with his hand on the door. “Please don’t. This is a misunderstanding.” He blew out a long breath. “However, if that is what you want, I must advise you that Mayfair Electronics, 21 Dover Street, London, W1S 4LT will accept return of a flawed unit for a full refund.”

“Stop! You sound like a robot.” Her fisted hands struck the air.

He didn’t flinch. “I am a robot. That’s why this is an inane conversation.”

“Inane? I find you with another woman in the bedroom, and this conversation is silly? Oh, no, Christian. Did you invite her here?” Why couldn’t she stop hurting herself and let him go, lock the door and email Mayfair for a courier pickup?

Folding his arms across his chest, he leaned against the door. “She knocked. I answered and kept her outside until it started to rain. She was talking about the club and telling me, again, I’d be a success as a male dancer. Being a success at something would be a bloody miracle. At any rate, half-jokingly, I asked her to teach me to dance. The End.”

“Not quite. Why did you slip her out behind my back?”

“I wished to avoid a scene like this.” His voice shaded deeper, darker. “And I didn’t want to hurt you.”

“There, it’s said. You can come back in now and stop pretending you’re leaving.” She waved a hand, half-heartedly beckoning. “You’ve got nowhere to go.”

He inhaled sharply as if she had punched him in the stomach. “I’m quite aware of that fact. I do not like seeing you this upset. Please call Mayfair tomorrow. I’ll voluntarily deactivate. They’ll dispatch a FedEx pickup for me.”

~~~~~~~~