Idog, the musical canine robot!

The portable dog-shaped speaker will enable you to hook up your iPod to the iDog to share music.

Sega toys JP has announced the iDog music entertainment pet, a portable dog shaped speaker. So you could totally hook up your iPod to the iDog to share you music.

HT Image

The iDog can express 4 emotions Joy, anger, grief and happiness, using its neck, ears and 7 LEDs built into the face to let you know what it is feeling, e.g., when you touch the tail, the iDog gets angry, and makes a cute sound.

Looks aside, it does the usual stuff we’ve come to expect from robot pets, like responding “emotionally” to touches to its various sensors. Its main claim to fame is its musical ability, though it’ll improvise tunes based on 720 internal musical phrases, changing the mood of the music as you wave your hand over the phototransistor on its head.

They’ve even included an external audio jack on its hindquarters for you to connect an external player; no prizes for guessing the device of choice for the MP3 enema at their press event. And yes, it does waggle its ears and paws in time to the music.

According to the Japan Today news site, the four-legged automaton features a number of switches located on its nose and other parts of its diminutive body that are used to create and play music. It has other buttons that cause the pet to light up or express emotions. The mechanical beast also features onboard sensors that detect and react to movements when it is held in an owner's hands.