Dogs Guided Remotely Can Perform Risky Jobs, Claims New Study

January 20th, 2011 - 8:29 pm ICT by GD  

By Ranjan Bhaduri
dog-278x225Jan 20, (THAINDIAN NEWS) So far the trained dogs used by cops and detective agencies used to find explosives and suspects required a human handler nearby. However, if a new system developed by Auburn University is implemented the canines can work much better and efficiently without requiring a human trainer by side. The university’s mechanical engineering section’s associate professor David M. Bevly says on this system “With our system you don’t have to be in eyesight, versus human guides that do have to be within sight”. The professor and the team that developed the system used real-time and external navigation system. They set up the guidance system for handling canines remotely with sensors, radio modem and GPS. It is connected to a PC. The set uses vibration to guide the dogs remotely.

Scientist Paul Waggoner associated with the Canine Detection Research Institute also worked on this study and he says that dogs have an internal capability to deal with a number of obstacles on their way which is not the case with robots. The main challenge for the researchers was coming up with a software that can take advantage of the inborn capability of the canines and help them reach the destination. The system was tested on a Labrador named Major and the dog showed inspiring results say the researchers. The trained dog demonstrated a 80 percent accuracy rate at the tests.

The team will try to guide the dog to perform more complicated tasks through remote guidance. This experiment may make things much easier for the cops, military and security agencies in near future think the researchers.

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