Sit, Stay, Empathize

Have you ever had the feeling that your dog knows you better than you know yourself? Sometimes it seems like they can sense your emotions before you even recognize them. Whether you are feeling sad, excited, or anxious, your dog seems to be right there, responding in ways that are incredibly attuned to your mood. They might nuzzle closer when you need comfort, wag their tail with infectious enthusiasm when you are happy, or sit quietly by your side during stressful moments. This uncanny ability to read and react to human emotions is one of the many reasons dogs are often referred to as our best friends.

Robot dogs, on the other hand, are cold and lack the warmth and empathy that make real dogs such good companions. That may be more or less acceptable for a robot that is, for example, helping to carry materials around a construction site. But in areas like healthcare and education, a robot needs more understanding of us so that it can interact with us in a natural way. This is a gap in present technologies that researchers at the New Jersey Institute of Technology and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev are working to fill. While their work is still preliminary, they are experimenting with a variety of wearable sensors that can provide robot dogs with a measure of emotional intelligence, much like a real dog.

As robots become more common and have more interactions with humans, it will be increasingly important that they learn to behave appropriately in social situations. Accordingly, the team is exploring the use of smartwatches, headbands, earphones, and other wearable sensors to collect metrics on brain waves and other physiological parameters. The hope is that this data, in conjunction with the suite of sensors already onboard a robot dog, will enable it to adapt its behavior to suit the personality and emotional state of its owner.

Technical details are still a bit scant at this point, but it is known that the researchers are working with a Unitree Go2 robotic dog and a variety of wearable sensors that can monitor physiological and behavioral signals of the wearer. A video demonstrating the technology shows the robot obeying commands given in the form of hand gestures. The individual working with the dog is also wearing some type of headset. While the purpose of it was not revealed, it may be measuring brain activity to assess the user’s emotional state.

Should this work develop beyond what was seen in the early demonstrations, these robot dogs might one day be useful in healthcare settings, perhaps providing companionship to the elderly. And the lessons learned might eventually be used in all sorts of applications where social understanding is needed. This is a project that is worth keeping your eyes on.