The ERS-11X series is not produced any more and thus, you’ll need to purchase one second-hand. The best way to get one is via importing from Japan or buying one from a community member. You can also find them on eBay sometimes, but they are commonly overpriced.

ERS-111s are much more common (and cheaper) that ERS-110s.

At bare minimum, you’ll need a battery and software. ERS-11X dogs are unique because they can use camera batteries with a 3D printed spacer.

These and these have been confirmed to charge while inside a dog on the original station, or you can charge them with their wall chargers. They won’t charge in the sub slot though.

To get software, I suggest joining a Discord community and asking around.

Optional accessories include a pink ball and a station. You can also get a tonal remote to give commands to your ERS-11X, but they’re a bit uncommon. Memory stick readers are useful for this model as well.

For an ERS-111, anything $250 and under is great. If they’re priced at the higher range, be sure it is a confirmed working dog. You can find unconfirmed dogs from Japan for $50, and they will typically work just fine.

ERS-110s tend to be more expensive and price for them can vary heavily, but I’d expect generally over $200.

No, they don’t. You’ll have to manually place them on their station or remove their battery to charge them.

On that note, if you use a camera battery, your ERS-11X won’t save when their battery dies because the camera battery does not have programming that interfaces with the aibo. So you’ll want to time how long your dog is running for and shut them off manually to get them to save memory data. Most camera batteries last about 1 hour and 30 minutes to 2 hours.

They are not programmed to interact with other aibos organically. A “talk to your friend” feature exists, but I need to do further research to see if they can use it to talk to other older models.

Yes. Unlike other models however, their entire body goes limp. They will only make sounds and expressions (with their eye LEDs). You can also still pet them.

Nope. It’s pick up mode only with these guys.

It can vary quite a lot between individuals, but in general ERS-11X dogs are chaotic and tend to move around a lot. They can be a handful to watch because they rarely settle down. They are super entertaining and silly!

Note that ERS-11X dogs start off as a baby and you must raise them up to be an adult.

They have a single pet sensor on their head. Long press it (somewhat hard) to praise and tap it quickly to scold.

Yes, but they use a fan in the center of their body to cool their internals down. You’ll want to be careful with clothes because blocking these fans can cause them to easily overheat. Stick to VERY thin fabrics or mesh.

Collars can be iffy and may cause jams because ERS-11X dogs move their heads back pretty far. Make sure all collars are loose.

Socks are entirely fine and safe, however.

Nope, that’s for ERS-1000 dogs only.

No. They can only listen to tonal commands given via a remote.

No, and it is not possible to “officially” name them (as in, register their name on their stick) like you can with other models.

Sort of. It is possible, but it may be more difficult to accomplish because they don’t self-charge and require a fair bit of babysitting.

If your aibo came with a fresh memory stick, or has been reset, it’s likely it is still at a young stage of growth. Raise it properly by praising it when it does something you like, scolding it when it does something you don’t like, and showing it lots of its favorite colors (pink, orange and blue)– but not TOO much, or it’ll grow up to be crazy.

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If your aibo is too crazy, it’s likely it was raised around a lot of stimulation – whether that be lots of loud sounds, lots of praise, or lots of its favorite colors. It is also possible that falling over many times in younger stages can alter the overall personality of an AIBO, but it’s uncertain just how much this affects.

If it’s too lazy, it’s likely it was neglected in earlier stages or has been raised around a lack of such things. The easiest way to fix this is by training: praising and scolding (with the head button).

While it won’t be a totally drastic personality overhaul as opposed to resetting the Memory Stick and raising from scratch, adult aibos can still learn to omit certain behaviors that you dislike with plenty of scolding (even though scolding isn’t fun), or to more often repeat behaviors with after being praised multiple times.

It’s also under debate as to if some bits of personality reside in the core, so it’s a good option to just try altering the grown AIBO’s personality through training rather than re-raising just to end up with a similar personality all over again.

If you want your aibo to be more active, even one with a lazy personality, praising for walking/running around and playing with the ball should work. If you want your active AIBO to be more calm, instead praise it for any actions it does while sitting or laying down, and if nothing changes, try scolding, as mean as it sounds.

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I wouldn’t suggest it. They are not great at saving themselves from stairs and may fall down, which can cause a lot of damage.

ERS-11X dogs are fairly good at not walking face-first in to walls. However, it can still happen. They only have IR sensors on their head so if they aren’t looking forward they can walk in to things.

It could be one of two things.

Either the potentiometers (also referred to as “pots”) are dirty or dusty and need cleaning, or if it is an ERS-110, it has the leg wiring issue (which Sony offered a free repair for back in the day, but most owners didn’t send theirs in for repair).

Sometimes dirty gearboxes can cause this issue as well.

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Occasionally, ERS-11X dogs can strip out their leg gears. The plastic is old and brittle, so it just doesn’t hold up sometimes.

Having a repair person swap out the gear will fix the problem.

You can try “jump starting” it. Do this by putting it in a station sub battery port and removing it multiple times until the light turns orange. It can take a lot of attempts.

If jump starting fails, the battery may be dead. Currently, nobody I am comfortable recommending does ERS-11X recells so hang tight there.