Scientists Move to Develop "Animal Internet" for Pets

(MENAFN) Scientists are pioneering the development of digital technologies to bridge communication gaps between humans and animals, aiming to establish an "animal internet" that could include video calls for pets such as parrots and dogs. At the forefront of this groundbreaking research is Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas, a lecturer and researcher at Glasgow University, who leads the Animal-Computer Interaction (ACI) group. Hirskyj-Douglas and her team have created digital interfaces that allow pets to make long-distance video calls, as well as interactive systems to enrich the lives of zoo animals like monkeys and giraffes.

“Many animals we keep are often naturally highly social creatures, yet they are not kept in the kind of groups in captivity that they would naturally form in the wild or have the same level of social interaction,” Hirskyj-Douglas explained.

Her journey into animal communication research began with a personal project: she developed a phone for her dog, Zach, that allowed them to stay in touch while she was away. The system uses an accelerometer in a ball, which Zach shakes to trigger a video call with Hirskyj-Douglas. Either of them can initiate or decline the call. According to Hirskyj-Douglas, Zach frequently reached out, making the video calls a daily habit.

Following this success, Hirskyj-Douglas and her team extended the technology to parrots, allowing them to connect with one another via video calls. The parrots are trained to use their tongues on touchscreens to initiate these calls, effectively creating a digital "play-dating" system for the birds.

"We plan to move beyond simple video calling and really enable animals to do things interactively," Hirskyj-Douglas said during her presentation at the British Science Festival in Liverpool on Thursday, as cited by media.

In her statement published earlier this month by Glasgow University, Hirskyj-Douglas emphasized the importance of creating species-specific technologies for animals: "To build a workable 'animal internet,' we must develop species-specific technologies to meet their needs, giving them tools that match their abilities."

Meanwhile, in a separate innovation, Baidu, China's leading search engine company, has taken steps toward translating animal sounds into human language. The company filed a patent in May for AI technology aimed at interpreting animal vocalizations, potentially deepening the emotional communication between humans and animals. As stated in the patent, the system could foster "deeper emotional communication and understanding between animals and humans."

With these advancements, the boundary between humans and animals is shrinking, and a new era of interspecies communication may be closer than ever.

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