Research | AnimalComputerInteractionLab

Our research horizon

Background

Interactive technology specifically targeted to nonhuman animals has been in existence for the best part of a century, ranging from biotelemetry devices fitted on free-living bears during conservation studies, to operant interfaces used to train laboratory pigeons in behavioural experiments, and robotic milking systems for farm cows aiming to increase the efficiency of automated agricultural processes. For decades, dogs have been trained to interact with human interfaces, such as light switches or traffic lights, to carry out tasks on behalf of their assisted human companions. In recent years, a host of computing-enabled devices such as tracking collars or teleconferencing systems have appeared on the pet market promising owners to help them to better care for and communicate with their cats and dogs. Free living animals have to increasingly negotiate built environments as urbanisation continues to expand and take over natural environments. With the advent of the Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence, animals are increasingly impacted by technology that is still fundamentally human-centred.

The impact that technological development has on animals raises important scientific and ethical questions. What role have animals played in such technological developments? To what extent do these developments reflect the perspective of the animals in question? To what extent have the animals’ individual and collective characteristics and requirements informed the design of technologies they encounter? To what extent have they shaped the processes through which such technologies are developed? How does the interaction with these technologies influence the animals’ capabilities, activities, experience and welfare? How does technology influences humans' perception and behaviour towards animals? How should technology be designed to ensure that it does not harm but instead benefits animals?

Mission

Our work addresses these and other related questions, grounded in the theoretical, methodological and ethical foundations and values that have informed interaction design over decades, and our mission is to advance the art and science of designing animal-centered interactive systems for a multispecies society in which animals have citizenship. On the one hand, informed by interaction design approaches and frameworks, our research and practice aim to improve animal wellbeing, support animals’ activities and foster human-animal relations, thus contributing to the development of more inclusive societies and sustainable forms of technologically supported living. On the other hand, by accounting for multispecies actors as legitimate stakeholders and contributors in the design process, our study and design of diverse technological interactions aim to expand and strengthen interaction design theoretically, methodologically and practically.

Aims

Our mission underpins the fundamental aims of the ACI Lab’s research program:

1. Studying diverse forms of interaction between animals and computing technology within the contexts in which animals habitually live, are active, and socialise with members of their own or other species, including humans, whether the interaction is direct or indirect, active or passive, synchronous or asynchronous, co-located or remote, individual or collective. Contexts, activities, and relationships will differ considerably between species, and between free living, companion, working, farm, or laboratory animals. In each case, the interplay between animal, technology, and contextual elements is relevant to our researcher.

2. Designing animal-centred technology to:

i. Improve animals’ life quality or expectancy by facilitating the fulfilment of their needs and wants. Technology that encouraged healthy habits in animals or allowed them to control their living environment might be consistent with this aim; similarly, technology that contributed to the refinement of animal farming or research procedures reducing their potential harm to the individuals involved might be consistent with this aim.

ii. Support animals in their activities, by minimising any negative effects and maximising any positive effects of those functions on the animals’ life expectancy and quality. Technology that gave animals control over the processes in which they are involved, or minimised the side effects of any practices that affect them, or made it easier for animals to perform tasks they engage in might be consistent with this aim.

iii. Foster intra-species and inter-species relations by enabling communication and promoting understanding between parties. Technology that allowed animals to communicate and interact with others (including humans), or that enabled others (including humans) to understand and respond to the animals’ interests, or that brought animals’ perspective into the assessment and development of interspecies relations might be consistent with this aim.

3. Developing animal-centred approaches, including theories and methods, to design technology for and with animals, based on the best available knowledge of animals’ needs and preferences, to allow them to participate in the design process by giving them control and choice. Consistent with this, we regard animal users as legitimate stakeholders and design contributors throughout all the phases of the design process and beyond.

Agenda

Designing for and with species other than humans and adequately addressing the theoretical, methodological and ethical challenges encountered in the pursuit of animal-centred design requires close collaboration between Computer scientists, engineers, interaction designers and animal behaviour, cognition, biology and welfare researchers and practitioners, to name a few, making ACI a fundamentally transdisciplinary field.

Our roadmap for the integrative approach that is required includes: a) the multidisciplinary collaboration with experts in relevant fields, b) the interdisciplinary mapping of relevant theories, methods, and protocols, c) the transdisciplinary exploration and elaboration of real case studies.

Benefits

As a field of research and practice, ACI extends the study and design of interactions with computing systems to animals beyond humans, whilst still including humans themselves as members of the kingdom animalia. By taking a multispecies perspective, we acknowledge the evolutionary continuities existing between species, thus pushing the boundaries of technology and interaction design in terms of participating agents, methods and applications.

Such a perspective provides benefits that range from improving animal wellbeing and human-animal relations, to strengthening disciplines such as human-computer interaction or animal cognition. For example, the development of multispecies research practices and design frameworks could enable designers to better account for the cognitive and ergonomic diversity of their prospective stakeholders. ACI could also broaden participation in society, providing inclusive technology to support multispecies communities, and lead to the development of more sustainable forms of technologically supported living.

While technology has enabled humans to conquer the world, it has also contributed to the planetary crisis that humanity and other living beings are now facing. While technology could also play an important role in the pursuit of a sustainable future, this will arguably depend on whether we will continue to use it to exploit and outcompete other creatures, further alienating ourselves from the natural world and from the multispecies relationships that sustain us, or whether we will be able to leverage it to reduce our separation from nature and live in more harmonious relation with the beings with whom we share our common home. For the latter to happen, we need to think ‘outside the (human) box’ and stop prioritising human interests to everyone else’s detriment.

ACI’s animal-centred perspective has the potential to yield design outcomes and processes that improve animals’ lives and human-animal relations, and to produce ways of thinking and practices that are more attentive, sensitive, and empathetic towards other beings, helping us to meet the responsibility that arises from our ability to develop technology and from the power that technology gives us. It provides us with an opportunity to reconfigure multispecies relations and redefine our place in the world for a more inclusive, equitable and sustainable future.