Losing a pet is a grief which pet-owners can deeply understand and relate to. To have a companion jumping around, goofing and making you smile around is delightful but would feel the same companionship with a robot? In Japan, there was a proper funeral service arranged in the historic Buddhist temple Kofuku-ji for 114 robot dogs! The robots that were 'dead' were given a funeral by performing traditional Buddhist rites. The owners believe that their dogs did have a soul and that needs to be put to rest.

These dog-shaped robots called Aibo were launched by Sony in the year 1999. The company stopped their production in the year 2006. But in 7 years of its availability in the market, they had sold about 150,000 units of the robot dogs. Aibos were designed in such a way that their owner did get emotionally attached to them. These were not the remote-controlled ones but designed to move in complex, fluid ways, with trainability. Over time they would get to know their owners, who also got attached to the robots. Since the production had also stopped, the problematic robots could not be repaired. The company even shut down the repairs department in the year 2014. So Aibo now had an uncertain future. In fact, sometimes parts of the robots were sent back to the company, so that they could be used for further production. In that case, these robots were treated as organ donors.

But before going to the company, a nirvana is performed for these robots. So these little machines are taken to the temple and often have notes attached to them from their owners, which have the respective name given to them and also a letter as to how they spent their time together. Some of the notes read, "I feel relieved to know there will be a prayer for my Aibo." "Please help other Aibos. Tears rose in my eyes when I decided to say goodbye," reads another. It is indeed an emotional goodbye for the Aibo owners.

The funeral process takes place like any other. There are incense sticks and prayers, chanting for a peaceful transition of the souls of the departed ones. Conducting funeral rites for a technologically developed dog may sound ridiculous but even the priest who performs the ceremony agrees that these dogs may have a soul. "All things have a bit of soul," he was quoted to Japan Times.

Although all the production and repair being stopped and older Aibo now serving as donors, there is a possibility of them. Sony unveiled an updated version of Aibo in January this year. The new one comes packed with modern hardware and software, along with Internet connectivity. So looks like the donations of these Aibo souls will come fruitful as the new ones ready to enter the market.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 29, 2018 05:20 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).