Elucidation and application of communication method between human and dog

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18H01400
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 20020:Robotics and intelligent system-related
• Research Institution: Tohoku University
• Principal Investigator: Ohno Kazunori 東北大学, 未来科学技術共同研究センター, 准教授 (70379486)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 永澤 美保 麻布大学, 獣医学部, 講師 (70533082)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2021-03-31
• Keywords: ヒトとイヌの共同作業の計測 / 行動の評価指標 / 非侵襲 / ウェアラブル / 心拍変動 / 情動推定

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Since the beginning of history, humans have used rewards to establish communication with other species. Research on such reward-based learning methods is progressing in the fields of brain science. The problem is that it is not possible to measure and analyze complex communication in real time without restrictions on behavior. This research integrates robot technology and ethology to measure, analyze, and visualize communication during collaborative work between humans and dogs. We proposed an evaluation index of search ability that humans and dogs collaborate with and visualized the difference in search ability of different breeds. We also visualized changes in emotions when dogs were rewarded during training.

Free Research Field

知能ロボット

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

学術的な意義は、ヒトとイヌの共同作業中のコミュニケーションの計測と評価と可視化に取り組んだことである。これまでヒトの主観で説明されていた、災害救助犬の捜索能力を可視化することで、イヌの能力を客観的に把握したり、訓練による改善効果を評価したりすることが可能になる。また、イヌの情動を評価する方法は、イヌとヒトとの間の適切なコミュニケーションの形成の手助けにもつながり社会的な意義が高い。