March 05, 2012 12:04pm ET'Smart Fur' Lets Robo-Pets Read Owners' Emotions 'Smart Fur' Lets Robo-Pets Read Owners' Emotions Pet Robots A piece of smart fur can tell the difference between pets, scratches or even the breath of a human owner. Credit: University of British Columbia View full size image

Man's best friend is getting an upgrade.

Pets can have positive effects on their owners' emotions, the logic goes, so would a robot pet be able to do the same? A robo-bunny developed at the University of British Columbia can mediate its users' emotions, calming them down or cheering them up by leading them through deep-breathing exercises, for example. The robo-bunny also has a pulse and can stiffen or relax its ears.

But for now, users of the robo-bunny need to be wired up to biometric sensors for the rabbit to sense the user's emotional state and react.

"You can't seriously expect kids to be wired up with sensors while they're using this," said Karon MacLean, a professor of computer science at UBC and the leader of the lab in which the bunny was developed.

The smart fur could lead to a new generation of robot pets capable of interacting with owners.Credit: University of British ColumbiaView full size image

That's where a new "smart fur" that the team has created comes in.

Developed by graduate student Anna Flagg, the sensor — right now just a square blob a few inches long, vaguely reminiscent of a furry Star Trek tribble — can tell the difference between a pet, a scratch, even a breath, and ultimately will recognize up to 30 gestures.

"The end goal of this would be to try to infer a person's emotional state, given how they're touching the fur," Flagg said. Imagine a cat that, instead of biting you when you scratch it too hard, rolls over and purrs. "The one thing a robot can do that's different from an animal is truly be in the service of its owner and do what the owner needs it to do," MacLean said. "You can't always expect that from a robot."

The wired version of the "Haptic Creature" robot rabbit began as a theoretical experiment by Ph.D. student Steve Yohannon, who was interested in learning whether the language of touch was universal. That is, whether everyone expresses emotion through touch and interpret others' touches in the same way.

Flagg's pilot study seems to show that they can.  "I was nervous when I was running [the study] because I thought, 'There's no way [the sensor] will be able to learn a pattern here,'" she said. The seven volunteers recruited to scratch and pet the fur sensor all had their own ways of interacting with the blob, but enough similarities emerged that the system could tell the difference. There's much more research needed, though.

The smart fur will be on display at the 2012 IEEE Haptics Symposium March 4-7 in Vancouver.Credit: University of British ColumbiaView full size image

The wired robot rabbit has already proved popular among its test subjects, though: children with anxiety disorders and children on the autism spectrum. The early results are promising. "Doctors, parents come through and are desperate to have them," MacLean says. "Kids repeatedly bug me, 'when can I take one home?'"

Integrating the fur sensor into the robot is a first step. —More tests are planned — MacLean is planning a study at the children's hospital in Vancouver to see if the robot is useful for kids about to undergo surgery.

"We have ideas for adults. Probably not a 20-pound robot, but your cellphone could do this. It would be interesting to have a little companion with me that could see when I'm becoming stressed and help guide my breathing, and maybe even notice it's happening before I notice it. We're wondering how this [effect] scales, if it's breathing in your pocket instead of in your lap."

Flagg is demonstrating her smart fur at the 2012 IEEE Haptics Symposium March 4-7 in Vancouver.

This story was provided by InnovationNewsDaily, a sister site to LiveScience. Follow InnovationNewsDaily on Twitter @News_Innovation, or on Facebook.

智能毛皮，让宠物机器人更懂主人的情绪

2012年3月5日12:04 ET'Smart皮草“让机器人，宠物读业主情绪”智能皮草“让机器人，宠物读业主的情绪宠物Robots 一块智能皮毛可以告诉宠物，划痕或一个人的主人，甚至呼吸之间的差异。图片来源：英国哥伦比亚大学查看原图

人类最好的朋友是越来越升级.

宠物可以对主人的情绪的积极作用，逻辑去，所以就一个机器人宠物可以做？一个机器人，兔子在不列颠哥伦比亚大学开发的可介导其用户的情绪，平静下来，或欢呼起来，通过深呼吸练习导致他们，例如。在ROBO-兔子也有一个脉冲，可以变硬或放松的耳朵.

但是从目前来看，ROBO-兔子的用户需要被连接至生物传感器的兔子来感应使用者的情绪状态和反应.

＆QUOT;你不能真的希望孩子们进行接线的传感器，他们使用的是这一点的同时，＆QUOT;卡伦说麦克莱恩，计算机科学系教授UBC并在其中兔子被开发实验室的领导者

智能毛皮可能导致新一代能够与owners.Credit互动的机器人宠物：英国ColumbiaView大学全尺寸影像

这就是一个新的＆QUOT;智能裘QUOT;已经创造了队进来.

所开发的研究生安娜·弗拉格，传感器＆mdash;现在只是一个正方形BLOB几英寸长，依稀有一个毛茸茸星际迷航符段＆mdash的;可以告诉一个宠物，划痕，甚至是呼吸之间的差异，并最终将识别多达30手势.

u0026 QUOT;这样做的最终目的是尝试来推断一个人的情绪状态，因为他们是如何接触毛皮，与QUOT;弗拉格说。想象一下，一个猫，而不是咬你的时候你帮它太硬了，滑过和呼噜声。 ＆QUOT;有一件事机器人能做到这一点是不同的动物是真正的成为它的主人服务，做主人需要它做的事情，和QUOT;麦克莱恩说。 ＆QUOT;你不能总是指望从机器人＆QUOT;

的＆QUOT的有线版本，触觉生物＆QUOT;机器人兔子开始作为一种理论的实验由博士学生史蒂夫Yohannon，谁是兴趣了解触控的语言是否是普遍的。也就是说，每个人是否表达情感通过触摸和理解其他人的接触以同样的方式.

弗拉格的试点研究似乎表明他们可以群组。 [我很紧张，当我运行[研究传感器the studythe sensor她说。七个志愿者招募划伤及宠物皮毛的传感器都有自己的BLOB交互的方式，但足够的相似性出现，该系统能够分辨出来。有需要的，但更多的研究

智能皮毛将展出在2012年IEEE触觉研讨会3月4-7日在Vancouver.Credit：英国ColumbiaView原图大学

有线机器人兔子已经证明深受其考试科目，但：儿童焦虑症和儿童自闭症谱系。早期的结果是令人鼓舞的。 ＆QUOT;医生，父母来过，并不顾一切地让他们，＆QUOT;麦克莱恩说。 ＆QUOT;儿童反复来烦我，'我什么时候可以带一个回家吗？“＆QUOT;

集成皮毛的传感器到机器人的第一步。 ＆mdash;计划＆mdash更多的测试;麦克莱恩计划研究在儿童在温哥华医院看，如果机器人是非常有用的关于孩子接受手术.

u0026 QUOT;我们有思想的成年人。也许不是一个20磅重的机器人，但你的手机可以做到这一点。这将是有趣的，有一个小伙伴跟我说，可以看到，当我变得强调，帮助引导我的呼吸，甚至可能会注意到它的发生之前，我注意到它。我们想知道这是如何[功效effect由InnovationNewsDaily提供，一个姊妹网站，以生活科学。按照InnovationNewsDaily在Twitter上@News_Innovation，或在Facebook

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