Sony AIBO
We have one working Sony AIBO robot, named ebony. It is an ERS-7 model, the third and last generation of AIBOs before Sony discontinued them in 2005, regrettably.
Turn on the AIBO. After several seconds you should hear it roar, indicating that it is ready to accept a connection. (Warning: If you hear cheesy music instead, that means the robot is using the wrong pink memory stick; you'll need to turn off the robot and swap memory sticks.)
Open a Terminal window, and type pyrobot at the Linux prompt. This will start the Pyrobot GUI interface.
Choose Robot → Aibo.py
Enter "ebony" when prompted.
Choose Load → Device → AiboCamera.py
To see the camera image, select camera[0] in the Devices menu and click the View button.
You can do steps 1-5 above all at once by typing the following command at the Linux prompt and then entering "ebony" when prompted:
pyrobot -r Aibo -d AiboCamera
NEVER use the robot on the bare floor! Always run the robot on a carpeted surface.
When re-positioning the robot on its charging station (inside the storage cabinet), gently tuck the robot's legs in close to its body, and make sure that the body is securely connected to the charging station (you should see a "bicycle pump" icon appear in the little LCD display on the station, indicating that the battery is charging).
If you must open the battery compartment (on the robot's belly) for some reason, BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL when opening the compartment cover, so as not to break off the small plastic tab on the cover that fits into the body of the robot.