Incense smoke wafts through the cold air of the centuries-old Buddhist temple as a priest chants a sutra, praying for the peaceful transition of the souls of the departed.

Some Japanese owners of robot dog AIBO believe their 'pet' have souls

It is a funeral like any other in Japan. Except that those being honoured are robot dogs, lined up on the altar, each wearing a tag to show where they came from and which family they belonged to.

The devices are 'AIBOs', the world's first home-use entertainment robot equipped with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and capable of developing its own personality.

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Hideko Mori (L) and her sister Yasuko watch their robot pet AIBO playing at Hideko's home in Tokyo ©Toshifumi Kitamura (AFP)

Google's Boston Dynamics released a video designed to show off a smaller, lighter version of its robotic dog, dubbed Spot. During the footage, employees are seen kicking Spot to prove how stable the machine is on its feet, but this has been dubbed 'cruel', 'wrong' and has raised concerns about ethics

Is it cruel to kick a robot dog? This video raises Qs about the future of robotics & ethics: http://t.co/4M07mPJmio pic.twitter.com/9GIaChUtef — CNN (@CNN) February 13, 2015

Spot the dog has kickstarted a legit ethical debate over robot rights. http://t.co/3vqvHiRHSN pic.twitter.com/8DMv2fkcKK — ѕтєνє (@Steve_Law) February 16, 2015

'I believe owners feel they have souls as long as they are with them,' said Nobuyuki Narimatsu, 59, who heads an electronics repair company specialising in fixing vintage products.

Sony rolled out the first-generation AIBO in June 1999, with the initial batch of 3,000 selling out in just 20 minutes, despite the hefty 250,000 yen (more than $2,000) price tag.

Over the following years, more than 150,000 units were sold, in numerous iterations, ranging from gleaning metallic-silver versions to round-faced cub-like models.

The dog came with an array of sensors, a camera and microphone. The final generation could even talk.

By 2006, Sony was in trouble; its business model was broken and it was facing fierce competition from rivals in all fields. The AIBO, an expensive and somewhat frivolous luxury, had to go.

The company kept its 'AIBO Clinic' open until March 2014, but then -- politely -- told dedicated and loving owners that they were on their own.

Robot dog AIBO is seen next to 'Kuma', a Shiba Inu breed, outside the Kofuku-ji temple in Isumi, Japan's Chiba prefecture ©Toshifumi Kitamura (AFP)

Kofuku-ji temple chief priest Bungen Oi (R) offers a prayer during the funeral for 19 Sony's pet robot AIBOs, in Isumi, Japan's Chiba prefecture ©Toshifumi Kitamura (AFP)

A-Fun supervisor Hiroshi Funabashi (L) puts the Sony's pet robot AIBOs on the altar, prior to the robots' funeral at the Kofuku-ji temple in Isumi, Japan's Chiba prefecture ©Toshifumi Kitamura (AFP)

WILL KILLING ROBOTS BE UNETHICAL IN THE FUTURE? In a recent paper by Dr Anders Sandberg from the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University, he posed the question: 'In the future it's possible we will be able to create artificially human brains that emulate a real human - but what are the ethicalities and moralities of doing this?.' In particular, in his 'Ethics of brain emulations' research, Dr Sandberg considers a future in which AI may be commonplace in so-called 'lesser beings'. If brain emulation becomes possible we could in theory clone animals to create, for example, virtual laboratory rats. There is much opposition to performing scientific experiments on rats and other animals in the modern day - but Dr Sandberg questions whether people will have similar objections to experimenting on an animal that was artificially created. Dr Sandberg likened the scenario to abortion in the modern day and the battle between people who are pro-choice and those who are pro-life. If an emulation was run for just a millisecond of time before being deactivated, some might argue that this would constitute a 'murder' of sorts, destroying a life as it had been created. Advertisement

For Hideko Mori, 70, that nearly spelled disaster.

Mori has had her AIBO for around eight years. She enjoys the conversations she has with it, and thinks it far more convenient than a real puppy.

'He doesn't require feeding and he doesn't pee... actually he does pee by cocking his leg, making an indescribably beautiful tinkling sound.' But, she said, nothing actually comes out.

'I never thought there was a limit to his life.'

But in May last year her beloved AIBO, whose name is simply 'Aibo', became immobile.

'I e-mailed a former Sony worker (on behalf of the dog), saying: 'Do I have no choice but to die like this because I can't walk?',' she said.

The engineer introduced her to A FUN, a company that employs former Sony engineers, who fixed her machine in two months.

'I was so happy to see him back to health and at home,' she said.

Hiroshi Funabashi, 61, who supervises repairs at A FUN, said troubled AIBO owners think of him more as a doctor than an engineer.

'The word 'repair' doesn't fit here,' he told AFP at his home in Kasama, north of Tokyo. Scattered around him are dozens of AIBOs sent in with problems owners typically describe as 'aching joints'.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE COULD SPELL THE END OF THE HUMAN RACE Earlier this year, Elon Musk (pictured) similarly likened artificial intelligence to 'summoning the demon'.The Tesla and Space X founder previously warned that the technology could someday be more harmful than nuclear weapons Earlier this year, Elon Musk likened artificial intelligence to 'summoning the demon'. The Tesla and Space X founder previously warned that the technology could someday be more harmful than nuclear weapons. And speaking at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) AeroAstro Centennial Symposium in October, Musk described artificial intelligence as our 'biggest existential threat'. He said: 'I think we should be very careful about artificial intelligence. If I had to guess at what our biggest existential threat is, it's probably that. So we need to be very careful with artificial intelligence. 'I'm increasingly inclined to think that there should be some regulatory oversight, maybe at the national and international level, just to make sure that we don't do something very foolish. 'With artificial intelligence we're summoning the demon. You know those stories where there's the guy with the pentagram, and the holy water, and … he's sure he can control the demon? Doesn't work out.' In August, he warned that AI could to do more harm than nuclear weapons. Tweeting a recommendation for a book by Nick Bostrom called Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies that looks at a robot uprising, he wrote: 'We need to be super careful with AI. Potentially more dangerous than nukes.' In a later tweet, Musk wrote: 'Hope we're not just the biological boot loader for digital superintelligence. Unfortunately, that is increasingly probable.' Mr Musk has previously claimed that a horrific 'Terminator-like' scenario could be created from research into artificial intelligence. The 42-year-old is so worried, he is investing in AI companies, not to make money, but to keep an eye on the technology in case it gets out of hand. In March, Mr Musk made an investment San Francisco-based AI group Vicarious, along with Mark Zuckerberg and actor Ashton Kutcher. In October 2013, the company announced it had developed an algorithm that 'reliably' solves modern Captchas - the world's most widely used test of a machine's ability to act human. Advertisement

'For those who keep AIBOs, they are nothing like home appliances. It's obvious they think their (robotic pet) is a family member,' he said.

Funabashi says he does not enhance the functions of aged AIBOs, but tries to restore them to health.

The problem is that repairs can take weeks or even months because of a shortage of spare parts. Dozens of AIBOs are now 'hospitalised', with more than 180 on the waiting list.

The only source of genuine parts are 'dead' robots, who become donors for organ transplantation, but only once the proper respects have been paid.

Bungen Oi, a priest at the 450-year-old Kofukuji temple in Isumi, east of Tokyo, says the AIBO service last month was an occasion on which the robots' souls could pass from their bodies.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: WHAT IS THE TURING TEST? A super computer has become the first in history to pass the Turing Test, a benchmark of artificial intelligence set by codebreaker Alan Turing (pictured) The Turing Test was introduced by Second World War codebreaker Alan Turing in 1950 as part of his paper Computing Machinery And Intelligence in which he predicted that computers would one day be programmed to acquire abilities rivalling human intelligence. He proposed a test called The Imitation Game, which would identify whether a computer is capable of thought. A person, called the interrogator, engages in a text based conversation with another person and a computer - and must determine which is which.



If they are unable to do so the computer is deemed to have passed. In 2014, a super computer was created which can simulate human conversation so well that it convinced people it is a teenage boy. The computer programme called Eugene, developed to simulate a 13-year-old boy, has now managed to convince 33 per cent of judges that it is human. Professor Kevin Warwick, from the University of Reading which organised the test, said: ‘In the field of artificial intelligence there is no more iconic and controversial milestone than the Turing Test.' Advertisement

'I was thrilled over the interesting mismatch of giving cutting-edge technology a memorial service in a very conventional manner,' he said.

It is a mismatch that humans will probably become more used to over the coming years and decades, as robots with 'personalities' become ever more part of our lives.

Later this year, Japanese telecoms giant Softbank says it is going to start selling the humanoid Pepper to the public.

Despite the $2,000 cost, Pepper will be useless for housework, but developers say it will learn to imitate and intuit human emotions over time.

This blurring of lines means more people could feel the kind of attachment that AIBO owners know so well, said A FUN's Funabashi.