Wall Street Journal: robot pets vs. bio pets
We've posted previously about the turfwars that can develop between pets and home robots. Today's Wall Street Journal surveys the battleground in a feature titled "When Dogs and Robots Collide, Somebody Needs A Talking To." From the WSJ:
Previously on BB:
• Dog bits AIBO Link
• Real dogs teased with toy dog Link
• Killing a Pleo robotic dinosaur -- video Link
According to Daphna Nachminovitch of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, introducing robots into a pet household should be done with care. "There's no way to explain to them that this is not a threat," she says...Link (Thanks, Carlo Longino!)
Sympathetic owners sometimes just retire their new purchases. In other cases, the pets take matters into their own paws. Peter Haney, a university administrator in Lethbridge, Alberta, twice found his Roomba in pieces after letting it clean while his flat-coated retrievers, Macleod and Tima, had the run of the house. "No one is talking," he says...
"It comes up constantly," says Nancy Dussault Smith, a spokeswoman for iRobot Corp., in Bedford, Mass., which makes the Roomba. "Dogs, cats, all animals, they have their own personalities, so they all react differently to the robots."
IRobot tested its Roomba designs with pets, she added, incorporating safety measures in the motorized disc-shaped cleaner such as automatic deactivation when it is flipped over or sat on.
Previously on BB:
• Dog bits AIBO Link
• Real dogs teased with toy dog Link
• Killing a Pleo robotic dinosaur -- video Link
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Any robot is in pieces not out of jealousy, but because the pet thinks it is a toy.
Stupid.
Rover kills Roomba in a fit of jealousy.
Rockeater who is Roomba's older brother and a retired battlebot champion, pulls himself out of retirement, begins rigorous training, and comes back and kills Rover in a fit of justified vengeance.
Any robot is in pieces not out of jealousy, but because the pet thinks it is a toy.
Or, because Rover is aware of the robot's toy-like nature, but is jealous of it even still. My dog, in fits for my attention, is capable of turning off the computer or game system, taking away whatever I'm playing with, and killing it.
That's definitely jealousy. I had a Poochie once. I still don't know what he did with it. If he just wanted to use it as a toy, he'd play with it still.
My dog has no problems with my Roomba. He was worried by it at first, but now mostly ignores it. The only time it bothers him is if it runs into him.
Compromise: Get a Rat-Thing. (from Neas Stephenson's SNOWCRASH)
Hey!, this is cool: Looking for an image of the Rat-Thing to link to, I came across this whole frigging gallery of robot dogs!
My dog (border collie/lab mix) is afraid of the regular push vacuum, among other things (such as the wind); he'd probably just try to avoid the Roomba at all costs.
My cats sit in the middle of the room watching the roomba do its thing. If it goes behind them, they forget about it until it runs into them.
They are more scared of me than they are robots.
Charlie the coyote has learned how to turn on his owner's Roomba so he can stalk it.
Robots certainly are in line for the future. I wonder how A.I. is keeping up with users wants and preferences.
I was reading this article about robots and personalities - it's more general, not only pets but it brings up nice ideas: Synthetic Companions: Downloading Robot Personalities
"Get Fuzzy" is a great comic strip for dog/cat owners. There was one where the dog dressed up as a "Dirt Devil" for Halloween. The cat was impressed with such a scary costume. I can't find a link to it anywhere on the web though.
Should send a suggestion to have the dog do the dirt devil costume again this year, and have the cat wear a "roomba" costume.
And when does the droid boyfriend vs. human boyfriend research come out?
Oh, PETA, is there no animal-related statement too trivial for you?