Can a dog tell the difference?
Question: Do dogs see AIBO, Sony’s four-legged robot, as a conspecific?
We are conducting a series of exploratory studies on animal robot interactions in collaboration with the ethology group of the University of Eötvös University (Hungary). The purpose of these experiments is to investigate, from an ethological point of view, how much dogs see AIBO as a conspecific. The questions adressed are: what is the influence on the dog’s reactions of movement, smell, presence or absence of eyes, sounds, etc.
Two kinds of situations are tested. In the first one, puppies and adult dogs interact freely with the robot. In the second one, we organise a situation of implicit competition in which the dog has to defend a piece of meat against the arrival of the robot. Comparative studies are done with a remote control car and a real puppy. The results are being analysed and will be published in the near future.
Examples
Hungarian Vizsla/robot competition (first pilot study, April 2000)
Mops/robot interaction (first pilot study, April 2000)
Dog attacks AIBO movie
The horrible screams that you hear at the end of the movie were made by the experimenters, who were startled to see the dog attack the AIBO.
This was the first time that the AIBO was attacked, but it was not the last. During the course of the experiment, the AIBO was sometimes knocked over, bitten and chewed. It is still in perfect working order, and shows no visible signs of damage.
Nevertheless, we strongly advise you not to try anything similar with your AIBO. AIBO is strongly built, but it contains many delicate components that could be easily damaged. Your warranty will not cover you if AIBO is damaged in this way.
No animals were hurt or mistreated in any way during the course of this experiment.
Participants: Frédéric Kaplan, and Eniko Kubinyi and A. Miklosi from the Ethology Department of the Eötvös University (Budapest, Hungary)
References
Social behaviour of dogs encoutering AIBO, an animal-like robot in a neutral and in a feeding situation. Behavioural processes, 65:231-239 2004.
