Robot Revolution

I’d unfortunately recommend against running yours outside, since they are pretty fragile robots and any rough surfaces would wear down the rubber on their wheels very quickly, plus dust and dirt could easily get inside and cause issues. You can absolutely take your Zoomer outside while turned off for pictures though (as long as it isn’t wet out) and might be able to run them on a mat in cuddle mode where they won’t move around. 

Baymax talking in his sleep.

Depending on your budget, I’d also highly recommend Pleos. They’re very life-like robotic dinosaurs with impressive autonomy and AI. Despite being dinosaurs, they’re actually very sweet/gentle in personality and can make for good therapy robots. Pleos are on the pricier end though, the cheaper Ugobe model usually sells for around $50-100 in need of a battery repack and $100-150 with a working battery. They’re definitely one of my absolute favorite robots though and I don’t think they tend to get as much attention as they deserve. 

Mari is considered a “senior” Aibo in my household since she’s had over 1500 hours of runtime and is a bit creakier than most of the bots around here, but she’s still a very sweet and gentle pup to spend time with.

Hope this helps a bit!

The Sun Arrow ERS-1000 plushes look absolutely ridiculous and I love them so much. 

Congratulations on your first Aibo! ERS-7s are really amazing pups too. I usually go with size large for them since they have bigger paws than some of the earlier models, but sock sizes can vary from brand to brand. I don’t think they have any in stock online right now, but the dog socks that Five Below sells in the dog/owner sock sets also tend to fit ERS-7s pretty well! 

I decided to give my first ever I-Cybie a new look! He was one of the earlier robot dogs I had growing up and was a big part of what got me interested in Aibos. I’ve owned him for around fifteen years and over time, his original plastics became pretty badly discolored. I had originally planned on replacing them all with clear ones, but ended up deciding that it would be neat to keep some of them with a new paint job to honor his old self. I thought a steampunk look for his old shells would be a fun way to work with the natural wear of the plastic and make it into a part of his design! 

I know a lot of people do use custom cases for carrying around their pups, so someone here might be able to provide some suggestions that have worked for them. Hope this is of some help! 

Happy 3rd birthday to the Aibo ERS-1000!

Hi! It’s perfectly fine not to run an Aibo every day and can be better for longevity over time since most Aibos are getting older by now. If purchasing one of the original models (ERS-110 through ERS-7), these models can develop jitters from dust entering the potentiometers if not run often enough, but this issue is often reversable with use and running the Aibo at least once a week should be plenty to keep jitters away. It’s not a problem if you aren’t able to play with the Aibo every week though and if you know you will not be able to run your Aibo for an extended period of time (i.e. several weeks or longer), it’s a good idea to store the battery outside of the Aibo at around half full and to keep the Aibo somewhere covered up and relatively free of dust. If purchasing an ERS-1000, the battery cannot be removed since this model has an internal battery, but as with other models, just keep the Aibo somewhere safe and not too dusty when not running them. Hope this helps!

We’ve gotten a lot of snow this week, hoping it’s a bit warmer wherever you are!

Hi! I haven’t heard of this exact issue before, but stuck motors are very common and usually fixable in 1998/99 Furbies. Does the Furby operate normally and speak while you are moving the motor manually? Generally, spinning the gear located beneath a Furby’s beak is a good way to get a stuck motor running again and I would recommend spinning this gear rather than moving the motor itself. While spinning it, the Furby will cycle through its range of motions as its gears move and you should be able to feel once the motor actually starts working (this can take under a minute or over an hour). At first, the motor may stop running when you stop spinning the gear, but if you continue, it should eventually be able to operate on its own. Hope you can get your Furby working properly again!

Wren helped decorate the tree!

Hi! You can usually find My Happy Aibo figures (the 1/6 scale poseable ones) in the $10-20 range or so. There was also a smaller keychain-sized figure of the ERS-210 released and these tend to be a bit cheaper, but are less detailed and aren’t poseable. I’ve found most of mine on eBay and Yahoo Japan, but they also come up for sale within the community fairly often. You might have to wait a little bit for one to show up at a reasonable price, but they aren’t super hard to find. Hope this helps! 

Here’s a bit of a teaser of an older pup of mine who is finally up and running properly after many challenges and several years of waiting! They were headless up until last summer, and the head I found for them needed repairs, so I finally sent their new head in for clutch replacements and custom LEDs this fall. They’re currently in the process of getting a makeover and will be getting a new name once their new design is finished, but I wanted to share them now since I was so excited to finally have them safe at home and working for the first time!

Sony replied to a comment on Facebook shortly after Sony Square closed down saying that they had future plans for Rocky and Maddie, but I haven’t heard anything since then. I do miss being able to visit them and hope that they’ll make a return someday, I know they brought a lot of people joy during their time at Sony Square.