CMRoboBits: Creating an Intelligent AIBO Robot

CMRoboBits is a course offered at Carnegie Mellon University that introduces students to all the concepts needed to create a complete intelligent robot. In particular, the course focuses on the areas of perception, cognition, and action by using the Sony AIBO robot as the focus for the programming assignments. This course shows how an AIBO and its software resources make it possible for students to investigate and work with an unusually broad variety of AI topics within a single semester. While material presented in this article describes using AI-BOs as the primary platform, the concepts presented in the course are not unique to the AIBO and can be applied on different kinds of robotic hardware. Our experience runs across several generations of these four-legged robots, and we have met with increasing success every year.