AiboHack

ERS-2x0 AiboScope (LIVE!)

AiboScope is used in conjunction with a "Life Plus" memory stick. This allows you to monitor your AIBO from your computer while AIBO is walking around the room and living its life.

Aibo Scope only works with an ERS-210 or ERS-220 AIBO hooked up to your PC computer via the Wireless LAN card.

Overview

There are several key features of AiboScope:

The Main Screen: (screen shots are a little out of date)

NOTE: the actual camera image is crisper than the fuzzy image in the screenshot.

Features in Detail

Camera

At the upper left is the video camera feed from AIBO's nose camera. At the current rate, it updates several frames per second.

There is a separate utility (AiboCam) that can capture the video directly (without the overhead of AiboScope) and save it as a AVI file.

Color Detection

The 8 smaller images (4x2) to the right of the camera image show the color detection of AIBO. There is one image for each of the 8 color detection settings. The images are shown in appropriate colors (ie. there is both a Red and Pink that get interpreted as the "Ball"). To the right is the legend.

The Radar Screens

When AIBO detects interesting things with his camera, IR range sensor or ears, it has a rough idea of where those things are in 3D relative to his head. The radar screens try to show those 3D positions in two 2D plots.

Explanation: The top radar is trying to show an AIBO eye's view of what is going on. AIBO's nose is looking into the page. Most of the interesting things (BALL color, FAVorite color, something moving andobstacle) are right in front and a little below his nose.
The bottom radar view is from the top looking down at AIBO (his nose is facing up)
This user interface needs more improvement (and some cute graphics).

Interesting things that AIBO can detect with a 3D position are:

Moods

Changes in moods are recorded here. Each mood (emotion or instinct) has 5 levels (Very Low, Low, Med, High, Very High). The last detected mood value is recorded here. It is these changes that cause changes in behavior.

Voice Cmds log

This is a list of all the voice commands detected by AIBO. The most recently heard voice command is at the bottom. English is supported for all sticks French, German and Japanese are supported for Aibo Life 1 only

Voice Dictionary Top Ten

When AIBO hears your voice, this list is filled with the top ten voice dictionary matches. The list is in order of best match (top of list) to worst match (bottom of list) . Unlike the "Voice Cmds" list which gives you a history of commands heard, this is only valid for the last heard voice.

If you look at the example above, the last voice command heard (and recorded in the "Voice Cmds" log was "VCmd#38 Fetch/Find the ball". In the "Voice Dictionary Top 10" list, the best match was "Fetch the Ball". The second best match was a different version of "Fetch the Ball" (there are multiple ways AIBO is trained to detect each phrase). The third on the list is a version of "Shake Paw". IMHO this is a very useful, but hidden feature. Watching this display while talking to your AIBO gives a lot of insight into how the voice recognition works.

Event Log

At the very bottom is the Event log (for "Semantic Input Events"). These have a textual list of events detected by AIBO. These are the same Semantic Input Events that drive the behavior of AIBO.
Most of the event data is shown elsewhere on the AiboScope display. Reading this log will tell you the order things happened, give you other events info (like LOUD sounds or RHYTHMic dance music) and adds to your insight into what is happening inside of AIBO's brain.

Installation

AiboCam



AiboCam takes the pictures from AIBO, and saves them as a .AVI file. AiboCam will also test the net connection, and give a full screen preview of the camera data. The user interface and options are obvious, I hope.