CASES
Making life with aibo more comfortable -- aibo Territory
Applying our development concept that aibo's future is created together with its owners, we listen carefully to the requests and opinions of aibo owners. The aibo Territory function released in September 2021 is another feature developed from feedback from owners.
This function uses a map installed on the My aibo smartphone application to teach aibo to avoid certain places in the house by positioning virtual chili peppers that have a smell that aibo does not like. It was developed to resolve the anxiety of owners who want to let their aibo play freely but are worried that they cannot watch it constantly and prevent it from entering places they want it to avoid. This anxiety was identified from analyses of direct questions and requests from owners at aibo fan meetings, postings on the Facebook group for aibo fans, and survey results. We shared ideas with the people involved on how to enable owners to live comfortably with aibo by teaching it where it should not go. We then created several proposals for functions to tell aibo to avoid certain places. aibo owners from within the company conducted assessments, while developers who were living with aibo at home carried out field tests to realize functions that are easy to use and incorporate into daily life.
Many owners are delighted that these efforts have led to the realization of the aibo Territory system, which allows them to live with aibo more comfortably.
Listening to the opinions of owners is essential for aibo’s development because they see it as a family member. We proactively collect opinions and requests by organizing opportunities for direct interaction between developers and owners, such as aibo fan meetings and the Sony aibo Community. HCD experts are promoting a series of activities aimed at understanding owners' feelings and behaviors by collecting opinions and requests. They also create user scenarios and UI specifications, release functions after concept assessments, and communicate the experiential values of the functions on websites and other media in an easy-to-understand manner. In this way, we realize a comfortable life for owners and aibo by developing functions for aibo and engaging in post-release communications and other joint creative activities with owners.
