WHEN the last of Sony's Aibo robotic dogs rolled off the production line last month, it wasn't just consumer fans who mourned its passing. For years robotics researchers have been using Aibo to test artificial intelligence systems, and they were dismayed by its demise. Their online chatter has been littered with panicked requests for advice on getting hold of remaining stocks and concern over the future of their research projects.

Since its birth in 1999, Aibo has quietly become one of the most widely used robotics research tools. Its skills as a soccer player that could be programmed to compete in teams for the annual RoboCup Four-Legged Challenge are what first attracted many research labs. Soon it was being used much more widely, and it became the closest thing researchers had to a "standard" programmable robot.

So when Sony announced earlier this year that it would be ending its commercial ...