It's the oldest story in the book: Robotic dog turns up on your doorstop looking cute and winsome, learns a few words and tricks, and then gets canceled just as you've gotten to love it.
As part of its ongoing cost-cutting and reorganization effort, Sony has cut its line of robotic Aibo dogs, along with another, more-expensive, humanoid robot called the Qrio, which was never sold as a product.
According to a company representative, more than 150,000 Aibos have been sold since they went on the market in 1999. But the overall company is in the midst of an historic belt-tightening, and the robotics unit didn't make the cut.
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Cost cutting is important, but Aibo is a really cool product. It says something about the company. Too bad that they just look at the current cost structure and stop producing good products, cool products ...
