Abstract
To facilitate long-term engagement with social robots, robots can be modelled on ‘successful’ social animals – specifically, pet dogs. Unfortunately, scientific understanding is limited to qualities of dogs that are ‘liked’, opposed to behaviours that facilitate and maintain the human-dog bond. To better understand dog behaviours that are important for building bonds between owner and pet, we collected open-ended responses from dog owners (n=153). Thematic analysis identified 7 behaviour categories: the importance of 1) attunement, 2) communication, 3) consistency and predict-ability, 4) physical affection, 5) positivity and enthusiasm, 6) proximity, and 7) shared activities. We consider the feasibility of translating dog behaviours into a robotic platform, and potential barriers moving forward. In addition to providing insight into important behaviours for human-dog bonding, this work provides a springboard for those hoping to implement dog behaviours into animal-like agents, avatars, and robots.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Proceedings of the 4th UK-RAS Conference for PhD Students & Early-Career Researchers on “Robotics at Home” |
Publication status | Published - 2 Jun 2021 |
Event | 4th UK-RAS Conference for PhD Students & Early-Career Researchers on “Robotics at Home” - Online Duration: 2 Jun 2021 → … https://www.ukras.org/news-and-events/uk-ras/ |
Conference
Conference | 4th UK-RAS Conference for PhD Students & Early-Career Researchers on “Robotics at Home” |
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Abbreviated title | UKRAS21 |
Period | 2/06/21 → … |
Internet address |
Keywords
- dog behaviour
- social robots
- biomimetics
- human-animal interaction
- HRI
- HAI