SAN DIEGO, September 4, 2003: Sony announce a new version of its autonomous AIBO® Entertainment Robot.

The new version, called ERS-7, has many new features: voice and face recognition, new visual pattern recognition, wireless connection, 3 new infrared distance sensors, ...

AIBO is able to connect wirelessly with other electronic devices, transmitting photos, sound files and messages and moreover it is able to find its Energy Station and recharge itself when its battery runs low.

In addition to increased voice recognition capabilities, which allow the robot to understand approximately180 voice commands, the new model comes equipped with a newly developed visual pattern recognition technology so it can identify 15 credit card sized AIBO Cards that issue commands, change settings and modes.

Aibo is also able to recognize an edge, with its edge detection sensor, in order to reduce the risk of it falling off steep heights.

ERS-7 will be available in early November with suggested retail price of $1,599 and includes AIBO MIND software, a recharging Energy Station, one battery, a set of 15 AIBO Cards, an AIBOne (a new toy bone that AIBO can chase and retrieve for fun), AIBO's favorite pink ball, and the WLAN Manager CD-ROM software.