Sony spawns a new litter of cyber-pups

Sony has produced a new litter of robo-pups to follow in the paw prints of their predecessor, Aibo.

The new pups, Latte and Macaron, are smaller and more intelligent versions of Aibo, who barked his way to popularity in 1999 - selling within 20 minutes of hitting the shelves.

The puppies come with a 64-bit Risc processor and 32Mb of Ram, and are yours to take home for a mere $800.

For 1.5kgs of dog-shaped metal, you get a friend for life that can not only recognise and react to 75 voice commands, but sing songs and operate motion picture photography from a node inserted in its little head.

Latte is supposed to be mild and gentle in nature while Macaron is cheerful and naughty. Both can have a minor personality enhancement operation with the insertion of a Sony Memory Stick (we'd like to know where).

An extra spin on sales is expected to come through an animated TV program from Fuji TV Network, starring the pups. The cartoon will go to air in Japan in October and the pups are designed to respond to sounds from the program.

The pups can talk to each other and with the help of flashing LEDs and the usual robot gestures, can express anything from anger to discontent.

Pre-sale orders are being taken on the Sony website from 1 October.