CHS: Small: Touchscreen Computer Interfaces for Working Dogs

近一个世纪以来，辅助犬改善了成千上万残疾人的生活。这些工作犬，包括助听犬、导盲犬、服务犬和医疗警犬，可以提供独立性并显著提高生活质量。最近的研究表明，狗狗可以与可穿戴技术互动，向它们的训导员传达重要信息，比如龙卷风警报响起。然而，在家庭环境中，他们很少穿他们的服务犬背心或挽具，即使狗和训导员之间仍然需要明确的沟通。本研究的主要目标是探索触屏互动的基本方面，以支持工作犬与其训导员或其他人之间的沟通。项目成果将把虚拟触屏界面的最新技术扩展到动物身上，这是一个新领域。这项工作将有助于动物-计算机接口的新领域，使我们更好地了解狗的身体和认知能力，以及它们通过技术与人类互动的程度。除了进一步改善残疾人生活质量的直接影响外，作为这项研究的一部分开发的技术最终将使所有用户受益；宠物狗可以被训练使用触摸屏来请求外出，或者提醒主人有入侵者进入，而医疗警犬可以通过触摸屏直接呼救。为狗狗提供向训犬员表达特定需求的能力也有利于狗狗，增强它们的安全和福祉。PI和她的团队将检查和调整人类领域的可用性分析和设计技术，如Fitt定律和实践的幂律，以动物互动，扩大交互式计算的知识体系。他们将探索狗与触摸屏互动的身体和认知能力，以及确定狗能从虚拟显示器中感知和理解什么。将讨论三个具体目标。研究适合狗的触摸屏功能设计的因素，并为工作犬开发触摸屏界面制定相应的设计指南。PI将试验图标的大小、颜色、形状和位置，以确定狗狗最能理解什么。她还将测试犬在记忆和区分模式方面的认知负荷极限。创建工作犬触屏界面原型，并与各种工作犬进行正式的可用性研究。建立在第一个目标的结果上，PI将创建一个触摸屏系统，并设计一个训练协议，以熟悉工作犬的触摸屏任务。然后，她将采用基于人类交互理论的可用性指标进行研究，为虚拟显示开发基本的狗-计算机交互理论。在一只辅助犬和训犬师的家中进行技术探针实地案例研究，以评估触摸屏系统对工作犬的有效性。利用前两个目标的结果，PI将创建一个系统，并在家庭使用场景中进行人种学研究。

For nearly a century, assistance dogs have improved the lives of thousands of people with disabilities. These working dogs, which include hearing dogs, guide dogs, service dogs, and medical alert dogs, can provide independence and significantly enhance quality of life. Recent research has shown that the dogs can interact with wearable technology to communicate important information to their handlers, such as a tornado siren sounding. However, in a home environment, they rarely wear their service dog vests or harnesses even though the need for clear communication between dog and handler still exists. The main goal of this research is to explore fundamental aspects of touchscreen interaction for dogs, to support communication between working dogs and their handlers or other humans. Project outcomes will extend the state of the art in virtual touchscreen interfaces to animals, which is a new domain. The work will contribute to the new field of Animal-Computer Interfaces, providing us with a better understanding of the physical and cognitive abilities of dogs, and to what extent they can interact with humans through technology. In addition to the direct impact of further improving the quality of life for people with disabilities, the technologies developed as part of this research will ultimately benefit all users; pet dogs could be trained to use a touchscreen to request to go out, or to alert their owners of an intruder on the property, while medical alert dogs could directly summon help through a touchscreen. Providing dogs with the ability to express specific needs to a handler could benefit the dogs as well, enhancing their safety and well-being.The PI and her team will examine and adapt usability analysis and design techniques from the human field, such as Fitt's law and Power Law of Practice, to animal interactions, expanding the body of knowledge in interactive computing. They will explore the physical and cognitive abilities of dogs to interact with touchscreens, as well as determining what dogs can sense and comprehend from virtual displays. Three specific objectives will be addressed.1. To examine factors in the design of dog-appropriate touchscreen affordances and to create corresponding design guidelines for developing touchscreen interfaces for working dogs. The PI will experiment with size, color, shape, and placement of icons to determine what dogs can best comprehend. She will also test the limits of canine cognitive load in remembering and differentiating patterns.2. To create a working dog touchscreen interface prototype and perform a formal usability study with a variety of working dogs. Building on the results of the first objective, the PI will create a touchscreen system and design a training protocol to familiarize working dogs with touchscreen tasks. She will then perform a study employing usability metrics grounded in human interaction theory to develop fundamental canine-computer interaction theory for virtual displays.3. To perform a technological probe field case study in the home of an assistance dog and handler to evaluate the effectiveness of a touchscreen system for a working dog. Using the findings from the first two objectives, the PI will create a system and perform an ethnographic study in a home-use scenario.