Hey man!! BETANEWS SUCKS! THEY HAVE "it's" in the title! It's not "British Robodog, Taking it is 'Walkies'", it's "British Robodog, Taking its 'Walkies'".

But BETANEWS wouldn't be able to figure that out cause they just bring old news! Who cares about dogs!!!

"British Robodog, Taking it is 'Walkies'" ???!!!???
who the hell taught you english? I don't think you should be so quick to judge others!

You dumba**. I said ITS NOT: "British Robodog, Taking it is Walkies," but thats what the TITLE says!!!!

IT IS = It's
Its = Its

Who are you to give Betanews bad publicity? One minor mistake and you flame them with a friggin flamethrower.. grow up!

Man this place is amazing.. so what .. it's still interesting news..

man take a pill and relax..

To put some more gas (or petrol) on the fire, anything British is worth a laugh, i mean come on, ever tried to get something done round here?, there is nothing Great anymore in Great Britain, apart from ego's that is

You all suck! ahhh!!!

I went to Britain this summer, and found it rather enjoyable. I would always call the US home, but I would not mind live'n in the UK for a while ... but the taxes are horible.

Yes "it's" is a representation of the contraction "it is" where the apostrophe signifies the omission of the letter "i". Apostrophes are typically used in this fashion but can also be used with an "s" to signify the possession of an object by a noun. Possessive pronouns do not conform to this rule (its, ours, hers, his, theirs, etc.). The problem is that people only remember that possession is signified by "'s" and in opposition remember that "s" signifies a plural, and since you won't have two of an "it" than "it's" must be the correct form.
The other problem is that we've moved from an age where written language, which had been public only after much editing and review, is now available immediately without edit or review. Combine this issue with the amount of rules involved in creating fully formed grammatically correct sentences and you can see how things get out of hand fairly quickly.
Then add in the last problem, ignorant and intolerant people who lack the social skills with which to correctly address an issue. These people lack the social grace that would allow a normal person to simply approach the poster and say, "Hey! Justin, great job on the article but the title should be 'British Robodog, Taking its 'Walkies'', and this is why...". These socially inept people also use phrases like "You suck" or anything that uses the word "suck" in a demoralizing or disheartening way. Diminishing someone is easy, building them up is much more work and therefore these people could also be seen as lazy and typically apethetic about the state of their fellow man. They are more than willing to bash another at a moments notice but unwilling to take the proper time to correct the person properly.

Just my two cents.

"It's" nice to hear someone of your intelligence every now and then. I was happy to read your posting and give you kudos for your well written and obivously thoughtout remarks.

I would like to see my real dog, a k9, kick your robot dog's ass. ;-)

Although a neat science project, why would anyone want one? It can do tricks because it runs a program... *shrugs*

I think you people should read this book:

Building a Bridge to the 18th Century : How the Past Can Improve Our Future By Neil Postman...

As to why someone would want a robotic pet versus a real one - allergies, asthma, emphizema, and a host of other physical alements. There are also the issues of city living, apartment leases, TIME, etc.

The aibo is an astounding peice of work, for what it does. It's a companion robot. It's acceptance and good sales have brought the price from 3,000$ to 1,500$ in just a year or so. The RS-01, while being much steeper in price, was not designed as a companion robot but as a tasking robot. The dog form was an effort to make it user friendly for the people who will be putting it to task. People continue to think of robots in the mindset of "they'll take my job" while the robotics engineers are looking more at "what job don't people want to do". Things like deep mining, Nuclear/Chemical/Biological waste disposal, cramped quarters inspection, bomb disposal, reconaissence, fire-fighting (some people still wanna do it :) ), and many other dangerous, unhealthy, or just boring and repetative tasks.

I think what scares people more than anything is that a robot, someday, somewhere, might take over their job and then they will have to awaken out of their mediocrity and actually do something exceptional with their lives. Fear Success!

I think robots offer us a great opportunity to become adventurers, scientists, scholars, explorers, artists, teachers, and healers. But fear of the unknown will keep some of us with one foot in the past.

Excellent post. Bravo!

These idiots at betanews don't know the first thing about jouranlism or story writing. They make up stories as if they are the star of the story and they are the one being interviewed. These are not reporters. These sre just idiots who read something somewhere and they want you to think they invented the story them selves. No references. No Names. No information! Why don't these guys bother to learn how to write?

Gee a little harsh. You must be a former reader now cause everything you read here is false. What a dolt. Only thing they forgot to do was include the address which is http://www.roboscience.com. I went there on a hunch and lo and behold got to the right site. Great article Justin.

You obviously have difficulties when it comes to using your head constructively. Betanews does a brilliant job with fetching information from other sites.. grow up, dolt!

cool ariticle betanews (no sarcasm :) ) although the idea of a robotic dog seems pretty neat (i'd get one if i had 22grand to blow ;) ) but for a practicle solution to some high-tech needs like email, or even news, i think that a pda is quite enough for now :)

What kind of idiot would buy something like this? I know most of the world are dependant on computers, but this is getting ridiculous

What ever happened to good 'ol Lassie... I mean so she couldn't read you your email.. but still!

agree. If people start looking into electronic pets, then this world is going bonkers.

The whole point is not that it is a pet, but a useful robot. The dog form i suppose is just to introduce robots in a non-threating way...

the thing is robots are threatening... the more "useful" the more and more "uelsess" people will start being.

I mean you can introduce a gun in a friendly way, but whos to say its the best thing. I am cautious when it comes to robots in society.

You watch too many bad SF movies. Robots are not a real threat to humans.

Yeah but when you have a robot that can perform all the functions of a receptionist, and it costs less than the anual salary for a a receptionist, I do believe that it will replace the receptionist.

Because it nto only is cheaper and can do the same work, it makes less mistakes too.

I think you are letting your paranoia get the best of you. You are forgetting the fundamental piece of the puzzle here... the human still controls the actions of the robot. Over the years, doomsayers have denounced technology, stating that human jobs would be lost and people would become insignificant. On the contrary, technology only s***s the landscape of social interaction and the workplace.

In other words, if your paranoic view actually comes to light, consider this: we might not need many recptions in the future... but the number of Robotic Mechanic positions open wil be staggering!

Come now... stop watching so many b-grade sci-fi films, would ya?

A calculator would be a good example of this. When was the last time you added a bunch of numbers without using a calculator?

And, yeah, they never make any mistakes. Except the solar powered ones, where you have to turn on a high voltage lamp just to use them.

And how many secretaries do you know who could retrain as robot engineers. More jobs are created in a sector where there is already a skill shortage, and jobs are removed from the majority of people, who have a shortage of skills.

I agree, I mean advancement is the worst thing humanity can do. Did you type that reply on an abacus? Or do you not agree with those either because it puts number adders out of work. There will always be manual labor positions, and if there aren't I guess Joe burger flipper will have to go back to school. The majority of people are capable of doing intellectual jobs, but why go to school for 6 years to make money when you can mop floors at a factory in a union for $26 an hour? Progress is great and every new thing we do enhances us as people. Screw the Amish!

Hey,

I've worked in *multimedia* sine 1997 and the streamlining happening in the production offices of most companies should TERRIFY you! Not since the automation of the automobile (no pun intended) has the streamlining of human interaction with machines been so clearly defined. the little *toys* from todays engineering labs at Matel and Sony are a wake up call to all programmers and humankind alike.

The more supplant and rote we become with todays tasks the more upper management sees automation. Do Not FEAR - EDUCATE YOURSELF.

There is a reason for change, it's called history.

we are the last line of defense for our own jobs...

actually I dont know any receptions that could. Probably why they are a receptionist and not already a robotic engineer.

HUH?!

Do they have it in a cat model???

No, but I bet it would give a good lick'n to that pint-sized Aibo :)