Monday, December 15, 2014

SCIENCE - Talking to Dogs

"Talking to dogs isn’t so far-fetched:  Researchers translate canine with computer science" PBS NewsHour 12/9/2014

Excerpt

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  Dog lovers will want to pay close attention to our next story.

Researchers in North Carolina are working on ways to listen to and speak with man’s best friend.

Hari Sreenivasan reports, the idea of talking dogs isn’t so farfetched.

MAN:  Here we go, bud.  Ready?

HARI SREENIVASAN (NewsHour):  Man’s best friend is getting a digital nudge.

MAN:  Stick his head through there.

MAN:  OK.

HARI SREENIVASAN:  David Roberts, a computer science professor, and his team at North Carolina State University are inventing new ways to talk and listen to dogs, like Robert’s Labrador retriever, Diesel.

DAVID ROBERTS, North Carolina State University:  We’re developing the technologies that are going to help us what we like to say decode, or interpret, what our dogs are saying or communicating to us, as well as help us communicate back to our dogs.

HARI SREENIVASAN:  This prototype harness allows researchers to send wireless commands to dogs in the form of vibrations, while multiple sensors on the device send information from the dog back to researchers.

DAVID ROBERTS:  The mission that I have in connecting technologies in dogs and humans is to help improve that vocabulary.

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