Valli and the pink button

Valli meets the boys

Half-term trip to Skanda Vale to meet Valli and test out the water valve system.

I constructed a simple plastic button from layers of tinfoil with foam sandwiched in the middle - similar to a dancemat - requiring a gentle press to make the circuit.  We fixed it to the ceiling next to Valli's enclosure so she could reach it with her trunk. 

Pressing the pink button

On the floor above, the button was connected to an Arduino input pin.  The output activated a water valve via a relay switch, sending a strong spray of cool water along a hosepipe and down onto the rubber mat where Valli usually has a wash.

The water was on for a 30 second burst, then had to be re-activated.  She was persuaded to use the button a few times, but moved sharply away from the water spray - obviously not a strong motivation!

Brother Stefan will plumb in the pipework properly so we can test different interfaces that she might (or might not) like to use.

Royal Society Summer Show 2014

Helping out at the Animal Computer Interaction stand at Royal Society Summer Show - the stars have arrived.  Dogs for the Disabled show their talents at using the specially designed door and light switches.

http://sse.royalsociety.org/2014/technology-for-dogs/

Designing smart toys for the cognitive enrichment of elephants

http://doc.gold.ac.uk/aisb50/AISB50-S14/AISB50-S14-French-extabst.pdf

Paper delivered at AISB 2014 (conference for The Society for the Study of Artificial Intelligence and Simulation of Behaviour), ISAWEL (Symposium on Intelligent Systems for Animal Welfare)

track.

My co-authors were Clara Mancini, Neil Smith and Helen Sharp from The Open University.

Tanya playing in the mud, Colchester Zoo, Feb 2014

Elephants

So I'm currently undertaking a PhD in Animal Computer Interaction at The Open University...  "Designing smart toys for the cognitive enrichment of elephants". 

I've been doing some behavioural studies of elephants at Colchester Zoo - Tanya, Opal, Zola and Tembo.  Check the link for some video-clips: https://www.flickr.com/photos/thinkmakeplay/sets/72157642927226824/


Paper presented next week at AISB 2014.