Download Urbi for this robot
Ubuntu packages of the Urbi for AIBO

Robot description

Urbi based projects using this robot

Acquisition and evolution of language
AiBO+ - Creating new AI for AIBO from scratch
Urbi 2 port on Aibo - Runner-up of the Urbi Open Source Contest: you can now run Urbi 2 on the Aibo.

Urbi examples

Aibo dances to Daft Punk music (first price of a Sony organized contest)


Urbi 2 port on Aibo.

Download Urbi for this robot

URBI for AIBO is historically the first URBI Engine that has been created. Although Sony has discontinued the production of AIBO, we will continue to support it for the large existing community and provide up-to-date releases.

Download the memorystick content for the URBI Server:

ERS7 / ERS2xx

• Decompress the memorystick archive corresponding to your AIBO. You should get a directory named MS-ERS7 or MS-ERS200. Enter into this directory.
• From the MS-ERS7 (or MS-ERS200) directory, go to the OPEN-R/SYSTEM/CONF directory where you must set a WLANCONF.TXT file to configure the network properly (see the URBI Wlanconf page to set a WLANCONF.TXT file).
• Copy the content of the MS-ERS7 or MS-ERS200 directory in the root of a blank memorystick, put this memorystick in the robot and start

Download and run URBI Console

(or you can use a simple telnet client on port 54000). Using this client, you can begin to enter URBI commands (don't forget to send the "motors on" command before moving a joint). To know more about URBI commands, there is a Tutorial available and a full language specification to go further.

Also, we suggest that you have a look at the included scripts that are in the root of the memorystick (files ending with the .u extrension): they offer interesting simple programs to do useful things, in particular walk, stand, turn,... Usually, those scripts are loaded by the default URBI.INI autoexecuted file. Otherwise, you can load them with the "load" command.

The list of available devices for AIBO is given in the Aibo URBI Doc.

To go further, use the URBI SDK

The URBI SDK (liburbi + UObject) can be used to send commands and receive messages within a C++, Java or Matlab code, or plug C++ objets directly inside URBI. All the TCP/IP job is transparently handled by the library. Read the documentation for the C++ liburbi. You can also plug C++ objects in URBI with the UObject architecture.

Ubuntu repository

You can download and keep up-to-date Sony Open-R, Urbi Engine SDK for AIBO and Urbi memorystick from an Ubuntu PPA: https://launchpad.net/~csaba-kertesz/+archive/aiboplus

If you have Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic) or later, it is easy to add the PPA to your system. Open a terminal and enter:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:csaba-kertesz/aiboplus
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install urbi-engine-aibo-1.5

If you have older system or troubles, please check this link.

The PPA supports the latest three Ubuntu distributions (now Karmic, Lucid, Maverick). The plan is to add these packages to the main Ubuntu repositories after some time.

The Urbi related packages in this PPA:

• openr-sdk-gcc3: The original Aibo toolchain with Sony Open-R SDK 1.1.5 r5, gcc 3.3.6, binutils 2.15 and newlib 2.15.
• openr-sdk-gcc4: A new Aibo toolchain with Sony Open-R SDK 1.1.5 r5, gcc 4.1.2, binutils 2.17 and newlib 2.15. The gcc4 toolchain works only with memprot memory stick configurations.
• urbi-engine-aibo-1.5: Urbi Engine SDK 1.5 for AIBO (in conjunction with openr-sdk-gcc3) and Urbi memorysticks installed in location /usr/share/urbi-engine-aibo-1.5/sticks

The difference in the original software and the packages:

• openr-sdk-gcc3: The cross-compiler gcc is compiled as mipsel-aibogcc3-linux instead of mipsel-linux. The gensnap tool in Open-R is rewritten and a validator is written for Aibo binaries (gensnapval).
• openr-sdk-gcc4: The cross-compiler gcc is compiled as mipsel-aibogcc4-linux, the binutils and gcc has been updated. The gensnap tool in Open-R is rewritten and a validator is written for Aibo binaries (gensnapval). There is a new crashparser utility to parse and find the reasons of the crashes. The gcc4 toolchain works only with memprot memory stick configurations.
• Urbi 1.5 engine: The command-line scripts have a "-1.5" suffix (e.g. umake -> umake-1.5) to not interfere with later versions.