IT World has an article about how Sony researchers have created 'curious' Aibos. The researchers put about a dozen Aibos in playpens with balls and after some time the Aibos went from swivelling their legs and heads to wiggling, to being able to crawl and following a ball that had been placed in front of them. The researchers claim that this is open-ended learning and not preprogrammed. The researchers say the key is that these new Aibos have a metabrain which keeps them learning. If their learning isn't going anywhere (bored) it makes them curious to learn new things. The project is not expected to lead to products soon, if at all. The scientists do hope to add more stimuli and let the Aibos learn over longer periods of time to see if they may learn even more.

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