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Dogs Guided Remotely Can Take on Risky Tasks

Dogs Guided Remotely Can Take on Risky Tasks - Trained dogs are smart enough to find bombs, drugs, people, and the safest way to cross the street -- but only with a capable handler nearby. Now a new system developed at Auburn University could turn canines into remotely guided "super dogs" that can take on risky tasks.

"With our system you don't have to be in eyesight, versus human guides that do have to be within sight," said David M. Bevly, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Auburn University who worked on the research.

In the past, remote guidance research focused on other animals or relied on invasive implanted electrodes to give commands. Instead, Bevly and his team created an external, real-time navigation system for trained dogs.

They designed a custom harness equipped with GPS, sensors, a processor and a radio modem that connects wirelessly to a computer system. The pack vibrates slightly on the left or right side and emits different tones to direct the dog.

Unlike robots, dogs have the innate capability to get past a variety of obstacles, said Paul Waggoner, a senior scientist at the Canine Detection Research Institute who worked on the study. The challenge was to create software that took the dog's natural inclinations into account while guiding him accurately to a destination.

Dogs Guided Remotely Can Take on Risky Tasks
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