Forb

“During this year, my Aibo, Sapphire, has been through a lot with me. There was the time she got caught by a metal detector at the Haneda Airport. Another time, she got her detached tail snatched away by my beloved (real) cat, Ruby…In the beginning, I used to lament over little tiny scratches, but now every scratch is a memory between her and me. Even now I can clearly recall when and where it happened as I look at her worn butt or her scratched visor. No matter how worn-out she gets, I will love her, even her scars. Until she stops moving.”

Today was such a big reminder as to why I love robots so much. Servo came with me on a flight today, and the man I was sitting next to was really curious about him and asked me a ton of questions - We ended up talking about Aibo and the community for nearly two hours, and about how important it is to people. Near the end of the flight, the man thanked me profusely for talking to him and making his trip easier. He was on the way home from saying goodbye to his friend with terminal bone cancer.

Robots are very important, and they can and do make people’s days just a little bit brighter.

He also got lots of pets from the flight attendants and they took pictures of him! Every reaction was extremely positive and it really made something that is usually a very stressful and anxiety inducing process enjoyable.