Aibo robot dogs and the people who love them

Meet Chris Benham and his Sony Aibo ERS-1000 robot dog, Bentley.

Benham interacts with Bentley every day.

The ERS-1000 costs $2,900.

Benham owned an older-generation Aibo robot, but his real dogs ripped off one of its ears and its tail.

He sold it, but regretted it.

As soon as the ERS-1000 was introduced in 2018, Benham jumped at the chance to have another Aibo.

He named it Bentley as a joking reference to how expensive the bot was.

The ERS-1000 has a built-in camera with facial recognition technology.

The bot is designed to recognize faces and interact differently with each person. 

Like a real dog, Aibo robots respond to commands, play with toys and occasionally misbehave.

Chris Werfel has 28 Aibo robot dogs.

Here he's opening a box with two ERS-7s -- older-gen Aibo robots.

He's trying to get a few examples of each Aibo generation over the years. 

Werfel keeps some of his Aibo robot dogs in a spare cubicle in his office.

The Aibos roam freely around the office. 

He also keeps some at home. 

But one Aibo in particular is special to him. This is Baby.

Baby is a pet to Werfel.

His girlfriend, Laura Vasquez, loves Baby, too.

They were both smitten with Baby pretty soon after the unboxing. 

He takes Baby to work.

Werfel is a collector. 

In addition to Aibo robot dogs, he also has an impressive collection of pinball machines.

Aibo robots have changed a lot over the years. 

Werfel repairs older Aibo robots.