An international team of researchers is using AI to train robotic dogs to respond to their masters.
The project is sponsored through a one-year seed grant from the Institute for Future Technologies (IFT) – a partnership between New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU).
Assistant Professor Kasthuri Jayarajah of NJIT’s Ying Wu College of Computing is researching how to design a socially-assistive model of her Unitree Go2 robotic dog that will dynamically adapt its behaviour and interactions based on the characteristics of the people with whom it interacts.
The overarching aim is to make the dog come “alive” by adapting wearable-based sensing devices that can detect physiological and emotional stimuli inherent to the owner’s personality and traits or transient states, including pain and comfort levels.
The invention could help to battle loneliness in the elderly population and be an aid in therapy and rehabilitation.
Co-principal investigator Shelly Levy-Tzedek, associate professor in the Department of Physical Therapy at BGU, is an experienced researcher and leader in rehabilitation robotics, with a focus on studying the effects of age and disease on the control of the body.
The researchers note that wearable devices are increasingly accessible, and everyday models such as earphones can be repurposed to extract wearers’ states such as brain activity and micro expressions.
The project aims to combine wearable sensors with traditional robot sensors to objectively and passively track user attributes.
While socially assistive robots show promise, long-term, sustained use will prove a challenge due to cost and computing limitations, Jayarajah said;
The researcher added: “Robots like the Unitree Go2 are not yet up for big AI tasks.
“They have limited processing power compared to big GPU clusters, not a lot of memory and limited battery life.”
Image: New Jersey Institute of Technology
