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R.I.P. SONY® AIBO
1999 – 2006
In a bit of corporate euthanasia, Sony
Corporation has announced the cancellation of its four-legged robotic pet
program — Aibo. As part of a major
restructuring plan aimed at thwarting
its waning fiscal fortunes, Sony will formerly cease production of this lovable,
albeit costly, robot dog in March 2006.
What about those approximately
150,000 owners of this dog? What will
they do if their pet needs to see a vet?
In the same breath announcing the
death of the $2,000 Aibo, Sony also
promised to extend its maintenance
(both parts and service) program for an
additional seven years.
Most of the current Aibo owners
interviewed in a CNN.com news
report (“Sony Puts Robot Dog to
Atmel AVRbased Micro64/128
Embedded Controller Module
8-Channel Analog to Digital Convertor
Real Time Clock/Calender
29 Digital I/O
SPI & I2C Bus
Two Serial Ports
Serial Boot Loader
RS-232, 422 or 485
Selectable Baud
Rates up to 250 Kbps
Only 1.5 Cubic Inches
Supports Assembly,
BASIC and C Prog. Languages
Inexpensive CodeVision C Compiler
Sleep,” February 2, 2006) weren’t
convinced about the sincerity of
Sony’s maintenance extension. Feeling that this gesture was more of a
marketing dog bone than a genuine
doggie treat, these jaded owners
thought that Sony should be relegated to the global electronic dog pile
and not their beloved puppy pal. But
Sony isn’t about to play dead.
Attempting to roll over from its
current financial woes, Sony will
concentrate on its core electronics
business and its massive entertainment
arm. Although still reeling from a
recent marketing fiasco over its brutish
music copy-protection enforcement
scheme, Sony is hoping to fetch
a brighter bottom line when their
revolutionary PlayStation® 3 video
game console is released.
STUDENT-BUILT
BUOY LAUNCHES
OCEAN STUDIES
Starting at Only
$119 - Single Qty
Start Developing
The Micro6/128 Development
Board takes the Micro64/128 I/O
pins and expands them out to
solder pads and headers for ease
of connection when developing.
It also connects USART1 to RS-232
drivers or directly to screw
terminals for RS-422 or RS-485
communication. USART0 is also
connected to RS-232 drivers. The
RS-232 drivers are connected to
two DB9 connectors. This board
includes a prototyping area so the user can add external
circuitry. There is an onboard voltage regulator for powering the
Micro64/128 and additional circuitry. The Micro64/64A/128/128A
development system comes complete with a Micro64, Micro64A,
Micro128 or Micro128A, a Micro64/128 Development Board, and a
power supply.
VISIT WWW.MICROMINT.COM FOR MORE
INFORMATION or Call 1-800-635-3355
62 March 2006
Over the holidays, high-school
sophomore Katie Nance painted
her room a cool shade of blue. But she
and her schoolmates chose something
much bolder for the ocean buoy they
recently constructed for an international oceanography program. Their
bright red buoy is being launched off
the coast of Antarctica. If all goes well,
the buoy will phone home, thanks to a
satellite connection, sending back data
on ocean temperatures that will be
available to scientists and students
around the world.
The buoy project is part of an
education program called Argonautica
organized by the French space agency,
the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales.
With help from JPL, a small group of
students from a local French/American
school, the Lycee International de Los
Angeles, has become the first US
participant. The roughly dozen team
members were drawn from different
classes, ranging in age from 9 to 17. Dr.
Mohamed Abid, a senior systems
engineer for NASA's Ocean Surface
Topography Mission, served as their
advisor.
Argonautica is designed to help
students learn about the oceans and
