[robocup-legged] Sony stops production of Aibo

[Thomas Röfer]

Dear 4-legged RoboCuppers,

I have just received an e-mail from Minoru Asada that Sony announced that
they will stop to produce AIBO by the end of this March. As long as they
have AIBOs, they will sell them. The services such as repairing and parts
exchanges will continue for about 7 years after they stopped the production.

Sony decided to completely withdraw from robotics related activities.

In 2006, we will hold the Four-legged robot league competition as planned.
After that, we have to discuss what we will do (especially the TC).

Best regards

Thomas Röfer

 ___________________________________________________
|Dr.-Ing. Dipl.-Inform. Thomas Röfer
|Assistant Professor (C1)
|Fachbereich 3
|Universität Bremen 
|email: roefer at tzi.de
|WWW:   http://www.tzi.de/~roefer/
|Phone: +49 (421) 218-4659
|Fax:   +49 (421) 218-3054