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Touchscreens have long been an integral part of our daily lives – people use them to work, play, chat with friends and family, and sell on Taobao 11.11. In recent years, touchscreens have also shown potential in the animal world, inspiring academic research and the creation of consumer products that use technology to enhance our relationship with pets.
Rébecca Kleinberger, an assistant professor at Northeastern University, and her collaborators have been at the forefront of this exploration, using computer interaction to enrich and understand the lives of dogs, killer whales, and parrots. Their latest research begs the next question: If animals are going to use touchscreens, how should we design products for them?
In a new study published on March 20 [1], Kleinberg, Megan McMahon (an undergraduate student in behavioral neuroscience) and two collaborators, Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas of the University of Glasgow and Jennifer Cunha of Florida, used a simple balloon poke tablet game [2] Data on the tactile interaction of 20 pet birds with the touch screen were collected.
Through this research, they hope to establish a framework for the development of techniques specifically designed for parrots.
"Cognitive enrichment is an important part of parrot health and well-being, and tablet games are one of the ways to provide enrichment. "Apps specifically designed for birds and their unique touchscreen modes make this enrichment much easier." ”
The parrots involved in the study covered different species, including small parrots like the green-cheeked conure-tailed parrot and the purple-blue macaw that was the largest of all parrots. The parrots all had experience with touch screens and completed experiments at home. With the help of their owners, they learned to use a basic app game on a Samsung Galaxy tablet. [3] McMahon tweaked the game so that the parrot needed to use its beak and tongue to tap different sizes of colored circles at different points on the screen.
▷Figure 1 Not Angry Birds, parrots participating in a circle tapping game. Source: Original article.
During the three-month experiment, the participating parrots were asked to spend some time (no more than 30 minutes) playing the game each day. Seventeen birds completed the study, while three birds that showed mild aggression or lack of interest during the training period withdrew from the study. This game collects data on their accuracy, tap position and frequency, and haptic information such as touch pressure and resistance rate.
The research team's data evaluated how the existing, human-based touchscreen design principles could be transferred to the use of parrots. They focused on Fitts' Law[4], a formula for predicting human action toward a target.
Translator's note: Fitz's Law is a model of human activity commonly used in human-computer interaction and ergonomics, which predicts the time it will take to complete an action (often pointing a finger or mouse at an object) by the distance and size of the object. In this study, Kleinberg and collaborators explored whether Fitz's law applies to pet birds.
Some of the paper's findings are in line with our intuition: for example, parrots use their tongues primarily to operate tablets, which means their eyes are closer to the screen than the human eye. As a result, they are less accurate on quantitative data and are better able to hit larger circles of target. Depending on the size of the birds, there is also a great deal of variation in their performance – smaller birds tend to experience more difficulties.
▷ Figure 2: Parrot with eyes close to the screen. Source: Original article.
But data-based assessments also reveal a lot about the parrot itself. Kleinberg expressed surprise at "how quickly some parrot breeds control their tongues," saying: "Some parrots can touch the screen up to 41 times in a row, which means they can touch the screen every few milliseconds. ”
This also allowed them to make real-time utility adjustments: the research team added a "multi-click threshold" during the study so that the birds would not feel so upset when using it. "This ...... It is a good example of how studying the body of an animal can help us design new interfaces that give animals better autonomy. Kleinberg said.
The findings, which will be presented at the CHI conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems [5] in May, mark the next phase of Kleinberg and her collaborators' research. Their past research has shown that parrots have amazing intelligence, a high degree of sociality, and extraordinary physical abilities that can benefit from touchscreen technology.
Last year, the research team showed a flock of parrots how to video call each other and found that the birds enjoyed the activity and were able to initiate calls on their own when they could.
And the latest research further confirms that touch screens can enrich the life of parrots. In a survey after the study, the human keepers said that the experience was beneficial for their birds, and that participating in the study together also strengthened their bond with the birds. According to Kleinberg, that's exactly what the design was designed to do. She emphasizes that the system her lab is developing is intended for use by humans and animals together, and is an enhancement, not a replacement, for the interaction between them.
There are also potential drawbacks to humans and touchscreens – some of which are familiar ("The participants in our study often highlighted the risks of overuse of tablets in their birds, and the need to control their screen time in the same way as children's screen time") and others that are unique to birds ("When asked what kind of risks tablet apps might pose to parrots, the most common answer was 'potential damage to tablets'").
In the long term, the researchers hope that these results will serve as a new starting point for adapting screen technology to better serve parrots and other species. Kleinberg argues that this could bring some academic rigor to the burgeoning "pet tech" market: "While new products promise to improve animal welfare, there is often a lack of data and research to support them. ”
"My goal is for these findings to not only help the pet tech industry, but also provide valuable guidance to the wider research community, technology developers, and pet owners. Kleinberg said.
Original: https://news.northeastern.edu/2024/03/20/parrots-playing-tablet-games/
Bibliography:
- [1] https://repository.library.northeastern.edu/files/neu:h989sd115
- [2] https://apps.apple.com/us/app/balloon-pop-toddler-baby-game/id1498726683
- [3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EY5GiklaplM
- [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitts%27s_law
- [5] https://chi2024.acm.org/