[Nfbf-l] Computerized Vest Helps Dogs Talk

[Alan Dicey]

Feature Writer Ann Chiapetta - Computerized Vest Helps Dogs Talk
Imagine you are working your guide dog and it stops, telling you the path 
before you is blocked. If you are a blind handler, you will know the dog 
won't go forward even if you tell it to because it uses intelligent 
disobedience to avoid the obstacle. Even as you trust your dog and proceed 
to go around the obstacle, you may not know what is in front of you blocking 
the way. Instead of being led around the unknown obstacle, and perhaps not 
ever realizing what it could be, you are told by the dog via a computerized 
voice or text that it is wet cement. Pretty cool, huh?

Say hello to a computerized prototype vest for dogs named "Facilitating 
Interactions for Dogs with Occupations", a.k.a. FIDO that is meant to help 
handlers communicate with their service dogs. According to recent news 
articles, the device looks like a typical service dog vest that hugs the 
canine's shoulders and back, fastening under the dog's belly. The FIDO model 
has a compact computer with a microprocessor that sits between the dog's 
shoulder blades with several distinctly shaped items which can be pulled or 
pushed by the dog. Dogs can alert the handler to things like a tornado siren 
or alarm, alerting the handler to the danger or obstacle with just a tug on 
a string or push of the nose on a button.

Researchers at Georgia Tech are working on the prototype vest to do the very 
thing described above and much more. Since dogs can understand about 700 
words to convey what they see, smell or hear around them, fine tuning the 
technology that enables us and the dog to communicate better is only a tail 
wag away from becoming a reality.

This is all possible with a mini computer and a receiver, like Google glass 
or an ear bud to either hear or see the information the dog chooses to 
convey. For instance, the dog can tug on a toy that represents the 
information, like stairs or a curb, which is sent via a microcomputer to the 
handler.

The alert system will depend on the dog owner's needs, though researchers 
are still fine-tuning exactly how the owner will be alerted to what the dog 
sees, hears, or smells. Potentially any dog that works with its handler will 
be able to utilize the vest. This is especially encouraging for explosive 
detection and search and rescue dogs as well as dogs teamed up with people 
with disabilities.

The funding for this research is being paid for by a recent grant from 
Google Glass team to the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Professor Melody Jackson from the Georgia Institute of Technology came up 
with this idea after discovering that one of her students worked with a 
guide dog and wanted a better way to find out about the obstacles the dog 
avoided.

To read the article, go to:
http://www.csmonitor.com/Innovation/Responsible-Tech/2013/0716/FIDO-How-a-computer-vest-can-help-dogs-talk

Or, go here:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2421792,00.asp