The sales figures killed it!

Jan 30, 2006 09:40 GMT  ·  By

For those of you who think Aibo stands for some weird Japanese dish, things are far from that: Aibo is only the world's most advanced dog-robot. The little robot learnt over the years how to say a few words, do a few tricks and wag its tail to a music beat. Aibo is most likely the greatest gadget to have around the house, but if you didn't find the time or the budget (this thing costs over $2,000) to get one of these babies so far, you'd better hurry 'cause master Sony is putting the entire breed to sleep.

Still, even if Aibo was such a precious little thing to have and the robotic dog was just on its way to conquer the world, to Sony numbers matter more and as a result of the company's ongoing cost-cutting and reorganization effort, the little dog had to go.

Aibo wasn't the only one sacrificed, as another, more-expensive, humanoid robot called the Qrio - which didn't even make it to the market and was only presented as a wonder of what Sony labs could achieve - will also be put to sleep.

According to a company representative, more than 150,000 Aibos have been sold since they went on the market in 1999.