aibo (ERS-1000): the robot dog that returned after 12 years, now leaving Japanese shelves

Back twelve years after the first AIBO stopped

Sony ended production of the original AIBO in 2006, announced a new aibo in November 2017 and released it in Japan in January 2018. It cost ¥198,000 before tax and required a subscription to the aibo Basic Plan, a cloud service; sources give the monthly fee as ¥2,980 or ¥2,500. Twenty-two degrees of freedom move even its ears, tail and mouth, and its eyes are OLED displays. One of its two cameras is used to map the home.

Japanese sales to end after eight years

On 25 June 2026 Sony announced that, after reviewing its services, it would stop selling aibo in Japan once stock runs out. Subscriptions, the app, repairs and parts would continue, and US sales were reported to continue. A few days later Takuma Morita, who leads design for Sony’s AI robotics, said in a video that Sony is not giving up on aibo. In July Sony said it would give development prototypes to the University of Tokyo and UC Berkeley and show a prototype at SIGGRAPH 2026. Sales of the new aibo have not been disclosed.

A robot dog beside children getting injections

A study published in 2022 compared distress after vaccination in 57 children aged 3 to 12. Children with aibo had lower distress scores than those with a stuffed toy. The groups were not randomised, and we could not confirm who funded the study.

An elder that ran without servers, a successor that relies on a subscription

The original AIBO ran without servers, so a repair shop kept it alive after its maker left. The new aibo hands much of its function to a cloud subscription. Sony says support will continue, but how long a product that is no longer sold stays supported is the company’s decision.

Whose servers hold this robot’s memory and personality?

What we haven’t confirmed

• Sales of the new aibo
• The exact monthly fee of the aibo Basic Plan
• US sales and price as of October 2026
• Who funded the children’s study