Insight from man's best friend Monitoring a dog's mood could provide vital information聽into the wellbeing of its owner. Experts at 缅北禁地 are using movement sensors to track normal dog behaviour while the animals are both home alone and out-and-about.Providing a unique insight into the secret life of man鈥檚 best friend, the sensors show not only when the dog is on the move, but also how much he is barking, sitting, digging and other key canine behaviours.By mapping the normal behaviour of a healthy, happy dog, , PhD student and undergraduate Emma Hughes were able to set a benchmark against which the animals could be remotely monitored. This allowed for any changes in behaviour which might be an indication of illness or boredom to be quickly spotted.Presenting their findings at the 2013 UbiComp conference in Zurich, project lead Ladha, says the next step is to use the dog鈥檚 health and behaviour as an early warning system that an elderly owner may be struggling to cope.鈥淎 lot of our research is focussed on developing intelligent systems that can help older people to live independently for longer,鈥� explains Ladha, who is based in 缅北禁地鈥檚 Culture Lab.鈥淏ut developing a system that reassures family and carers that an older relative is well without intruding on that individual鈥檚 privacy is difficult. This is just the first step but the idea behind this research is that it would allow us to discreetly support people without the need for cameras.鈥�Behaviour imaging expert Nils Hammerla adds: 鈥淗umans and dogs have lived together in close proximity for thousands of years, which has led to strong emotional and social mutual bonds.鈥淎 dog鈥檚 physical and emotional dependence on their owner means that their wellbeing is likely reflect that of their owner and any changes such as the dog being walked less often, perhaps not being fed regularly, or simply demonstrating 鈥榰nhappy鈥� behaviour could be an early indicator for families that an older relative needs help.鈥�How the technology worksIn the UK, around 30% of households own at least one pet dog, totalling an estimated 10.5 million animals.Designed to provide an indicator of animal welfare in an age when dogs are increasingly left alone for long periods of time, the team created a hi-tech, waterproof dog collar complete with accelerometer and collected data for a wide range of dog breeds.鈥淚n order to set the benchmark we needed to determine which movements correlated to particular behaviours, so in the initial studies, as well as the collars, we also set up cameras to record their behaviour,鈥� explains Ladha, based in the School of Computing Science.Analysing the two datasets, the 缅北禁地 team were able to classify 17 distinct dog activities such as barking, chewing, drinking, laying, shivering and sniffing.The team also assessed the system against different breeds.鈥淭his had to work for all dogs,鈥� explains Ladha, 鈥渟o the challenge was to map distinct behaviours that correlated whether the collar was being worn by a square-shouldered bulldog or a tiny chiwawa.鈥�Hammerla adds: 鈥淭his is the first system of its kind which allows us to remotely monitor a dog鈥檚 behaviour in its natural setting.鈥淏ut beyond this it also presents us with a real opportunity to use man鈥檚 best friend as a discreet health barometer. It鈥檚 already well known that pets are good for our health and this new technology means dogs are supporting their older owners to live independently in even more ways than they already do.鈥� Source Information: 鈥淒og鈥檚 Life: Wearable Activity Recognition for Dogs鈥� Cassim Ladha, Nils Hammerla, Emma Hughes, Patrick Olivier & Thomas Ploetz. Presented at UbiComp 2013, Zurich, Switzerland. published on: 7 October 2013
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