Washington:
Researchers have developed a new hi-tech backpack that can be used to enhance communication between dogs and humans.
The sensor-packed harness can sense the animal’s movement, and the sounds it makes, letting the owner know how they feel, they said.
The technology has applications in everything from search and rescue to service dogs to training pets, researchers said.
“We’ve developed a platform for computer-mediated communication between humans and dogs that opens the door to new avenues for interpreting dogs’ behavioural signals and sending them clear and unambiguous cues in return,” said Dr David Roberts, an assistant professor of computer science at North Carolina State University and co-lead author of paper.
“We have a fully functional prototype, but we’ll be refining the design as we explore more and more applications for the platform,” said Roberts.
The platform itself is a harness that fits comfortably onto the dog, and which is equipped with a variety of technologies.
“There are two types of communication technologies. One that allows us to communicate with the dogs, and one that allows them to communicate with us,” said Dr Alper Bozkurt, co-lead author of a paper on the work.
“Dogs communicate primarily through body language, and one of our challenges was to develop sensors that tell us about their behaviour by observing their posture remotely,” Roberts said.
“So we can determine when they’re sitting, standing, running, etc, even when they’re out of sight - a harness-mounted computer the size of a deck of cards transmits those data wirelessly.
“At the same time, we’ve incorporated speakers and vibrating motors, called haptics, into the harness, which enable us to communicate with the dogs,” Roberts added.
“We developed software to collect, interpret and communicate those data, and to translate human requests into signals on the harness,” said Rita Brugarolas, an NC State PhD student and co-author of the paper.
The technology also includes physiological sensors that monitor things like heart rate and body temperature. The sensors not only track a dog’s physical well-being, but can offer information on a dog’s emotional state, such as whether it is excited or stressed.
These technologies form the core of the platform, but it can be customised with additional devices depending on the specific application.
“For example, for search and rescue, we’ve added environmental sensors that can detect hazards such as gas leaks, as well as a camera and microphone for collecting additional information,” Bozkurt said.
“We’re also very interested in addressing stress in working dogs, such as guide dogs for the blind,” said Sean Mealin, an NC State PhD student and co-author of the paper.
The research was published in the journal IEEE Intelligent Systems.
