How Can the Ethological Study of Dog-Human Companionship Inform Social Robotics?

Abstract

This chapter utilises the human-dog relationship as an example of the possible ways to examine human-animal relationships in general and as a model of a possible future human-robot relationship, assuming some functional convergence between social robots and dogs in relation to humans. The behavioural interaction between humans and dogs may provide important insights for ethological research on heterospecific social behaviour. The studies on dog-human relationships suggest that dogs are better at adjusting their interactions to the owners' demands than other companion animals, and on the basis of questionnaire studies, dogs interact with their owners in ways, which result in higher levels of attachment. In recent years several so called companion robots have been developed, many of which capitalize on the human-pet relationship. Recently different comparative studies were conducted investigating the dog-human and robot-human interactions using AIBO and PLEO as robotic companions. Keywords:AIBO; dog-human relationships; ethological research; PLEO; social robots