Animal Computer Interaction Research Articles

Human-computer interactions with farm animals—enhancing welfare through precision livestock farming and artificial intelligence

While user-centered design approaches stemming from the human-computer interaction (HCI) field have notably improved the welfare of companion, service, and zoo animals, their application in farm animal settings remains limited. This shortfall has catalyzed the emergence of animal-computer interaction (ACI), a discipline extending technology’s reach to a multispecies user base involving both animals and humans. Despite significant strides in other sectors, the adaptation of HCI and ACI (collectively HACI) to farm animal welfare—particularly for dairy cows, swine, and poultry—lags behind. Our paper explores the potential of HACI within precision livestock farming (PLF) and artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance individual animal welfare and address the unique challenges within these settings. It underscores the necessity of transitioning from productivity-focused to animal-centered farming methods, advocating for a paradigm shift that emphasizes welfare as integral to sustainable farming practices. Emphasizing the ‘One Welfare’ approach, this discussion highlights how integrating animal-centered technologies not only benefits farm animal health, productivity, and overall well-being but also aligns with broader societal, environmental, and economic benefits, considering the pressures farmers face. This perspective is based on insights from a one-day workshop held on June 24, 2024, which focused on advancing HACI technologies for farm animal welfare.

Welfare and Enrichment of Managed Nocturnal Species, Supported by Technology.

This paper addresses the potential for technology to support husbandry and enrichment opportunities that enhance the welfare of zoo and sanctuary-housed nocturnal and crepuscular species. This topic was investigated through the medium of a multidisciplinary workshop (Moon Jam) that brought together species experts, zoo designers, Animal-Computer Interaction researchers and post-graduate students in collaborative discussions and design sessions. We explain the context through an examination of existing research and current practices, and report on specific challenges raised and addressed during the Moon Jam, highlighting and discussing key themes that emerged. Finally, we offer a set of guidelines to support the integration of technology into the design of animal husbandry and enrichment that support wellbeing, to advance the best practices in keeping and managing nocturnal and crepuscular animals.

Investigation through Animal-Computer Interaction: A Proof-of-Concept Study for the Behavioural Experimentation of Colour Vision in Zoo-Housed Primates.

Zoos are an important repository of animals, which have a wide range of visual systems, providing excellent opportunities to investigate many comparative questions in sensory ecology. However, behavioural testing must be carried out in an animal welfare-friendly manner, which is practical for zoo staff. Here, we present a proof-of-concept study to facilitate behavioural research on the sensory ecology of captive primates. A system consisting of a tablet computer and an automated feeder connected wirelessly was developed and presented to captive primate species to evaluate interactions with and without previous training. A colour stimulus, analogous to the Ishihara test, was used to check the level of interaction with the device, supporting future studies on sensory ecology with zoo animals. Animals were able to use the system successfully and displayed signs of learning to discriminate between the visual stimuli presented. We identified no risk for small primates in their interactions with the experimental setup without the presence of keepers. The use of electronic devices should be approached with caution to prevent accidents, as a standard practice for environmental enrichment for larger animals (e.g., spider monkeys). In the long term, the system developed here will allow us to address complex comparative questions about the functions of different visual systems in captive animals (i.e., dichromatic, trichromatic, etc.).

An Interactive Feeder to Induce and Assess Emotions from Vocalisations of Chickens.

Understanding the emotional states of animals is a long-standing research endeavour that has clear applications in animal welfare. Vocalisations are emerging as a promising way to assess both positive and negative emotional states. However, the vocal expression of emotions in birds is a relatively unexplored research area. The goal of this study was to develop an interactive feeding system that would elicit positive and negative emotional states, and collect recordings of the vocal expression of these emotions without human interference. In this paper, the mechatronic design and development of the feeder is described. Design choices were motivated by the desire for the hens to voluntarily interact with the feeder and experience the different stimuli that were designed to induce (1) positive low-arousal, (2) positive high-arousal, (3) negative low-arousal, and (4) negative high-arousal states. The results showed that hens were motivated to engage with the feeder despite the risk of receiving negative stimuli and that this motivation was sustained for at least 1 week. The potential of using the interactive feeder to analyse chicken vocalisations related to emotional valence and arousal is being explored, offering a novel proof of concept in animal welfare research. Preliminary findings suggest that hens vocalised in response to all four stimulus types, with the number of vocalisations, but not the probability of vocalising, distinguishing between low- and high-arousal states. Thus, the proposed animal-computer interaction design has potential to be used as an enrichment device and for future experiments on vocal emotions in birds.

Systematic iterative design of interactive devices for animals

Abstract The numerous systems designed to facilitate animals’ use of computers often are specific to the animals involved, their unique context, and the applications – enrichment among them. Hence, several development methods have arisen in parallel, largely transposed from the human-computer interaction (HCI) domain. In light of that prior work, the paper presents a step-by-step guide for iteratively designing and constructing interactive computers for animals, informed by the rich history of HCI yet applying animal-centred principles, to enrich animal-computer interaction. For each stage in the iterative design (requirements, ideation, prototyping, and testing), the author reflects on real-world experience of building interactive devices for various animals. The paper concludes with overarching considerations vital for future practice of developing interactive computers for animals. Thus, it serves as a valuable reference and information source for researchers designing novel computer systems for animals.

Driving singing behaviour in songbirds using a multi-modal, multi-agent virtual environment

Interactive biorobotics provides unique experimental potential to study the mechanisms underlying social communication but is limited by our ability to build expressive robots that exhibit the complex behaviours of birds and small mammals. An alternative to physical robots is to use virtual environments. Here, we designed and built a modular, audio-visual 2D virtual environment that allows multi-modal, multi-agent interaction to study mechanisms underlying social communication. The strength of the system is an implementation based on event processing that allows for complex computation. We tested this system in songbirds, which provide an exceptionally powerful and tractable model system to study social communication. We show that pair-bonded zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) communicating through the virtual environment exhibit normal call timing behaviour, males sing female directed song and both males and females display high-intensity courtship behaviours to their mates. These results suggest that the environment provided is sufficiently natural to elicit these behavioral responses. Furthermore, as an example of complex behavioral annotation, we developed a fully unsupervised song motif detector and used it to manipulate the virtual social environment of male zebra finches based on the number of motifs sung. Our virtual environment represents a first step in real-time automatic behaviour annotation and animal–computer interaction using higher level behaviours such as song. Our unsupervised acoustic analysis eliminates the need for annotated training data thus reducing labour investment and experimenter bias.

Confronting Back-of-House Traditions: Primates as a Case Study

This review commentary focuses on traditional management practices and facility design with suggested improvements in non-public primate management areas, often called “back-of-house”, (henceforth BOH) in zoos, sanctuaries, and research facilities. Progress has been made toward improving animal quality of life in larger, more naturalistic, and enriched indoor and outdoor display areas. However, the quality of life in BOH areas has improved little in comparison. Basic management, regulatory, structural, and spatial BOH environments are lagging, especially in the developing world, and animals may be confined in less enriching spaces for substantial periods of the 24 h day. We reviewed traditional management policy and practice, as well as newer training, enrichment, and welfare policies and actions, and suggested alternatives for structural environments and spatial environments. The suggestions included using more animal-friendly construction materials and animal–computer interaction, providing greater control of the ambient environment and choice of access to multiple areas by the animals themselves, and designing for optimal animal wellbeing at all times, including when caregivers are no longer present. Case studies focused on primates were included. We concluded by suggesting a new, integrated design model based not upon rote standards and old models but building on empirical foundations while embracing empathy and innovation.

Welfare Through Competence: A Framework for Animal-Centric Technology Design.

Digital technologies offer new ways to ensure that animals can lead a good life in managed settings. As interactive enrichment and smart environments appear in zoos, farms, shelters, kennels and vet facilities, it is essential that the design of such technologies be guided by clear, scientifically-grounded understandings of what animals need and want, to be successful in improving their wellbeing. The field of Animal-Computer Interaction proposes that this can be achieved by centering animals as stakeholders in technology design, but there remains a need for robust methods to support interdisciplinary teams in placing animals' interests at the heart of design projects. Responding to this gap, we present the Welfare through Competence framework, which is grounded in contemporary animal welfare science, established technology design practices and applied expertise in animal-centered design. The framework brings together the “Five Domains of Animal Welfare” model and the “Coe Individual Competence” model, and provides a structured approach to defining animal-centric objectives and refining them through the course of a design project. In this paper, we demonstrate how design teams can use this framework to promote positive animal welfare in a range of managed settings. These much-needed methodological advances contribute a new theoretical foundation to debates around the possibility of animal-centered design, and offer a practical agenda for creating technologies that support a good life for animals.

An Ethics Toolkit to Support Animal-Centered Research and Design.

Designers and researchers who work with animals need to employ an array of ethical competencies to guarantee the welfare of animals taking part in animal-centered research. The emerging field of Animal-Computer Interaction (ACI), which deals with the design of animal-centered interactive systems, considers ethics a fundamental concern when working with animals, and ACI researchers have proposed ethics frameworks in response to these concerns. Ethical approaches proposed within the field tend to be normative but, on their own, norms may not be sufficient to support designers who will inevitably face unexpected and ethically charged situations as the research progresses. During a research project, focused on the design of dog-friendly controls for Mobility Assistance Dogs (MADs), these limitations came to the fore. Drawing from situated ethics approaches, developed to support researchers' ethical engagement with vulnerable populations such as children and differently abled adults, this paper presents an ethics toolkit that aims to support animal-centered research and design by enabling researchers to make ethically sound situated decisions as their work progresses. The toolkit comprises three templates, each of which asks a series of questions aiming to articulate the ethical baselines of individual team members and of their research project, and to inform the development of a series of ethical guiding statements to better prepare designers to make ethical situated decisions. The application of the toolkit during the research with MADs helped the field researcher to clearly and systematically articulate the project's ethos and understand the ethical stance that guided the research team's interactions with the dogs, their trainers, and their human partners throughout the project. It also fostered a practice of active reflection within the team, which helped them to maintain their commitment to the project's ethos in the face of unexpected ethical challenges. We propose that, beyond supporting ACI research, the toolkit could support the ethical engagement of researchers and practitioners who work for and with animals in many other settings.

Sonic Collaborations between Humans, Non-human Animals and Artificial Intelligences: Contemporary and future aesthetics in more-than-human worlds

This article sketches a theoretical framework that allows the conceptual inclusion of non-human animals and artificial intelligences in human sonic collaborations. Post-humanist concepts that question the categorical divide between nature and culture, following Donna Haraway and Bruno Latour, converge with contemporary, non-adaptationist evolutionary aesthetics. Therefore, the anthropocentric ‘othering’ of non-humans gives way to a concept of a more-than-human sociality of sound. We offer some theoretical propositions for the extension of socially engaged sound practices to collaborations between humans and non-human animals and between humans and artificial intelligences, and then exemplify such multispecies sonic collaborations by analysing some existing projects from the fields of sound art and musical performance. After drawing some more general conclusions from these analyses, we hint at potential aesthetical and ethical parallels between animal and AI creative agency. Finally, we point out a few questions we see as important for future advanced settings of such collaborations, especially when it comes to assemblages of different AI technologies and to future concepts of animal–computer interaction that might enable non-human animals and artificial intelligence to cooperate creatively.

Relevance, Impartiality, Welfare and Consent: Principles of an Animal-Centered Research Ethics

The principles of Replacement, Reduction and Refinement (3Rs) were developed to address the ethical dilemma that arises from the use of animals, without their consent, in procedures that may harm them but that are deemed necessary to achieve a greater good. While aiming to protect animals, the 3Rs are underpinned by a process-centered ethical perspective which regards them as instruments in a scientific apparatus. This paper explores the applicability of an animal-centered ethics to animal research, whereby animals would be regarded as autonomous subjects, legitimate stakeholders in and contributors to a research process, with their own interests and capable of consenting and dissenting to their involvement. This perspective derives from the ethical stance taken within the field of Animal-Computer Interaction (ACI), where researchers acknowledge that an animal-centered approach is essential to ensuring the best research outcomes. We propose the ethical principles of relevance, impartiality, welfare and consent, and a scoring system to help researchers and delegated authorities assess the extent to which a research procedure aligns with them. This could help researchers determine when being involved in research is indeed in an animal's best interests, when a procedure could be adjusted to increase its ethical standard or when the use of non-animal methods is more urgently advisable. We argue that the proposed principles should complement the 3Rs within an integrated ethical framework that recognizes animals' autonomy, interests and role, for a more nuanced ethical approach and for supporting the best possible research for the benefit animal partakers and wider society.

Passive, Active, and Proactive Systems and Machines for the Protection and Preservation of Animals and Animal Species

Digitalization and automation are expanding into many areas, resulting in more widespread use of partially and fully autonomous machines and robots. At the same time, environmental and other crises and disasters are on the rise, the world population is growing, and animals are losing their habitat. Increasingly, machines and robots such as agricultural vehicles, autonomous cars, robotic lawnmowers, or social robots are encountering animals of all kinds. In the process, the latter are injured or killed. Some machines can be designed so that this does not happen. Relevant disciplines and research areas briefly introduced here are machine ethics, social robotics, animal-machine interaction, and animal-computer interaction. In addition, animal welfare is important. Passive and active machines—as they are called in this review—are already appearing and help to observe and protect animals. Proactive machines may play a role in the future. They could use the possibilities of full automation and autonomy to save animals from suffering in agriculture or in the wild. During crises and disasters and in extensive nature reserves, they could observe, care for, and protect animals. The review provides initial considerations on active, passive, and proactive machines and how they can be used in an animal preservation context while bearing in mind recent technical and global developments.

Music for Monkeys: Building Methods to Design with White-Faced Sakis for Animal-Driven Audio Enrichment Devices.

Simple SummaryAnimals living in captivity can benefit from new forms of technological enrichment, with auditory enrichment currently being underutilized. Here, we investigate how to provide zoo-housed white-faced saki monkeys with auditory enrichment in an animal-centred manner. To study this, we prototyped and developed an interactive system that the sakis could trigger to play audio and that tracked their interactions with the device. Importantly, we incorporated this system into the regular living environment of the sakis and developed the interaction in a way that gave them control over activating the sounds. Based on the results, we conclude that audio is a promising way to provide enrichment for small primates like sakis. Utilising our device, we demonstrate that the sakis triggered the traffic audio more than silence, rain, zen, and electronic music, with no differences between the other conditions. However, we highlight problems in using this behaviour to infer the sakis preference or how they like the system, with further research needed towards sounds for audio enrichment. Our method reveals the value of collecting early real-world data and prototyping when designing interactive technologies for zoo-housed animals. In this experiment, we found that animal-centred methods can help create technologies better suited to their purpose and ultimately towards the end-goal of improving animal welfare.Computer systems for primates to listen to audio have been researched for a long time. However, there is a lack of investigations into what kind of sounds primates would prefer to listen to, how to quantify their preference, and how audio systems and methods can be designed in an animal-focused manner. One pressing question is, if given the choice to control an audio system, would or could primates use such a system. In this study, we design an audio enrichment prototype and method for white-faced sakis that allows them to listen to different sounds in their regular zoo habitat while automatically logging their interactions. Focusing on animal-centred design, this prototype was built from low fidelity testing of different forms within the sakis’ enclosure and gathering requirements from those who care for and view the animal. This process of designing in a participatory manner with the sakis resulted in an interactive system that was shown to be viable, non-invasive, highly interactive, and easy to use in a zoo habitat. Recordings of the sakis’ interactions demonstrated that the sakis triggered traffic audio more than silence, rain sounds, zen, and electronic music. The data and method also highlight the benefit of a longitudinal study within the animals’ own environment to mitigate against the novelty effect and the day-to-day varying rhythm of the animals and the zoo environment. This study builds on animal-centred methods and design paradigms to allow the monitoring of the animals’ behaviours in zoo environments, demonstrating that useful data can be yielded from primate-controlled devices. For the Animal-Computer Interaction community, this is the first audio enrichment system used in zoo contexts within the animals own environment over a long period of time that gives the primate control over their interactions and records this automatically.

The Design of Musical Instruments for Grey Parrots: An Artistic Contribution toward Auditory Enrichment in the Context of ACI

One particular approach in the context of Animal Computer Interaction (ACI) is auditory enrichment for captive wild animals. Here we describe our research and the methodology used to design musical instruments and interfaces aimed at providing auditory enrichment for grey parrots living in captivity. The paper is divided into three main phases: a project review and classification, sonic experiments at the parrot shelter and the design of musical instruments. The overview of recent projects that involve animals in the interaction and music-generation process highlights the costs and benefits of projects of this kind and provides insights into current technologies in this field and the musical talents of animals. Furthermore, we document a series of sonic experiments conducted at a parrot shelter to develop acoustically enriched environments through the use of musical instruments. These investigations were intended to provide a better understanding of how grey parrots communicate through sound, perceive and respond to auditory stimuli and possibly generate sound and music through the usage of technological devices. Based on the cognitive, physiological, and auditory abilities of grey parrots, and their intrinsic interest in sonic and physical interactions, we finally developed and tested various interactive instrument prototypes and here we present our design results for auditory enrichment in the context of ACI and artistic research.

High-Tech and Tactile: Cognitive Enrichment for Zoo-Housed Gorillas.

The field of environmental enrichment for zoo animals, particularly great apes, has been revived by technological advancements such as touchscreen interfaces and motion sensors. However, direct animal-computer interaction (ACI) is impractical or undesirable for many zoos. We developed a modular cuboid puzzle maze for the troop of six Western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) at Bristol Zoo Gardens, United Kingdom. The gorillas could use their fingers or tools to interact with interconnected modules and remove food rewards. Twelve modules could be interchanged within the frame to create novel iterations with every trial. We took a screen-free approach to enrichment: substituting ACI for tactile, physically complex device components, in addition to hidden automatic sensors, and cameras to log device use. The current study evaluated the gorillas’ behavioral responses to the device, and evaluated it as a form of “cognitive enrichment.” Five out of six gorillas used the device, during monthly trials of 1 h duration, over a 6 month period. All users were female including two infants, and there were significant individual differences in duration of device use. The successful extraction of food rewards was only performed by the three tool-using gorillas. Device use did not diminish over time, and gorillas took turns to use the device alone or as one mother-infant dyad. Our results suggest that the device was a form of cognitive enrichment for the study troop because it allowed gorillas to solve novel challenges, and device use was not associated with behavioral indicators of stress or frustration. However, device exposure had no significant effects on gorilla activity budgets. The device has the potential to be a sustainable enrichment method in the long-term, tailored to individual gorilla skill levels and motivations. Our study represents a technological advancement for gorilla enrichment, an area which had been particularly overlooked until now. We wholly encourage the continued development of this physical maze system for other great apes under human care, with or without computer logging technology.

DoggyVision: Examining how dogs (Canis familiaris) interact with media using a dog-driven proximity tracker device.

With screen technology becoming ubiquitously embedded into our homes, these screens are often in places where they can be viewed by domestic dogs (Canis familiaris); however, there is a lack of research showing to what extent, and for how long, dogs attend to media on screens. One pressing question is to understand if a dog, given the opportunity, would or could control its own viewing. This paper describes a prototype system (DoggyVision) that gives control to a dog in regard to the turning on and off of a TV screen in order to study activation with screen media in home settings. The system is used with two dogs to explore the interaction modalities between machine and dog. DoggyVision is shown to be non-invasive for the dog and easy to use in the home. Recordings show that dogs did attend to the screen but did not appear, in this study, to change their activation behaviors around the TV screen between being in no control (week 1), and in some control (week 2), of the TV media presentation. The study builds on ‘dog-centered’ methods to examine a dog’s behavior non-invasively demonstrating that useful data can be yielded from dog-driven devices within the home. For the Animal Computer Interaction community, this is the first system that allows the dog to trigger the activation of the device as the system records the activation automatically.

Animals Make Music: A Look at Non-Human Musical Expression

The use of musical instruments and interfaces that involve animals in the interaction process is an emerging, yet not widespread practice. The projects that have been implemented in this unusual field are raising questions concerning ethical principles, animal-centered design processes, and the possible benefits and risks for the animals involved. Animal–Computer Interaction is a novel field of research that offers a framework (ACI manifesto) for implementing interactive technology for animals. Based on this framework, we have examined several projects focusing on the interplay between animals and music technology in order to arrive at a better understanding of animal-based musical projects. Building on this, we will discuss how the implementation of new musical instruments and interfaces could provide new opportunities for improving the quality of life for grey parrots living in captivity.

Developing for non-human users: Reflecting on practical implications in the ubiquitous computing era

Abstract Advances in modern technology, such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and ubiquitous computing, open up new exciting opportunities for technology for animals. This is evidenced by the explosion of products and gadgets available for pets, digital enrichment for captive animals in zoos, sensor based smart farming, etc. At the same time, the emerging discipline of Animal-Computer Interaction (ACI) marks a new era in the design and development of animal technologies, promoting a more animal-centric approach, considering the needs of the animal in the development process. In this article, we reflect on the ways in which ideas of animal-centric development may impact the development of technology for animals in practice. We start by looking at the process of development for and with animals, and propose a development model facilitating the principles of Agility, Welfare of Animals, and eXperts’ involvement (AWAX) within the development lifecycle. While promoting the animal-centric approach, it is important to acknowledge that an animal usually uses technology through humans and in a particular environment. We further extend the AWAX model to include considerations of the human in the loop and the environment, and discuss some practical implications of this view, including aspects such as security and privacy.

Seven Years after the Manifesto: Literature Review and Research Directions for Technologies in Animal Computer Interaction

As technologies diversify and become embedded in everyday lives, the technologies we expose to animals, and the new technologies being developed for animals within the field of Animal Computer Interaction (ACI) are increasing. As we approach seven years since the ACI manifesto, which grounded the field within Human Computer Interaction and Computer Science, this thematic literature review looks at the technologies developed for (non-human) animals. Technologies that are analysed include tangible and physical, haptic and wearable, olfactory, screen technology and tracking systems. The conversation explores what exactly ACI is whilst questioning what it means to be animal by considering the impact and loop between machine and animal interactivity. The findings of this review are expected to form the first grounding foundation of ACI technologies informing future research in animal computing as well as suggesting future areas for exploration.

Utilising dog-computer interactions to provide mental stimulation in dogs especially during ageing.

Aged dogs suffer from reduced mobility and activity levels, which can affect their daily lives. It is quite typical for owners of older dogs to reduce all activities such as walking, playing and training, since their dog may appear to no longer need them. Previous studies have shown that ageing can be slowed by mental and physical stimulation, and thus stopping these activities might actually lead to faster ageing in dogs, which can result in a reduction in the quality of life of the animal, and may even decrease the strength of the dog-owner bond. In this paper, we describe in detail a touchscreen apparatus, software and training method that we have used to facilitate dog computer interaction (DCI). We propose that DCI has the potential to improve the welfare of older dogs in particular through cognitive enrichment. We provide hypotheses for future studies to examine the possible effects of touchscreen use on physiological, behavioural and cognitive measures of dogs' positive affect and well-being, and any impact on the dog-owner bond. In the future, collaborations between researchers in animal-computer interaction, dog trainers, and cognitive scientists are essential to develop the hardware and software necessary to realise the full potential of this training and enrichment tool.