Robotic pet

Robotic pets are artificially intelligent machines that are made to resemble actual pets. While the first robotic pets produced in the late 1990s were not too advanced, they have since grown technologically. Many now use machine learning (algorithms that allow machines to adapt to experiences independent of humans), making them much more realistic.[1] Most consumers buy robotic pets with the aim of getting similar companionship that real pets offer, without some of the drawbacks that come with caring for live animals.[1][2] The pets on the market currently have a wide price range, from the low hundreds into the several thousands of dollars.[3] Multiple studies have been done to show that we treat robotic pets in a similar way as actual pets, despite their obvious differences.[4][5][6] However, there is some controversy regarding how ethical using robotic pets is, and whether or not they should be widely adopted in elderly care.[3][7][8]

  1. ^ a b "Video & Blog: Will Robot Pets Replace Real Dogs and Cats?". Dr. Ernie Ward. 16 January 2018. Retrieved 2021-11-04.
  2. ^ Howard, Jacqueline (2016-10-03). "Robot pets offer real comfort". CNN. Retrieved 2021-11-04.
  3. ^ a b Span, Paula (2020-09-26). "In Isolating Times, Can Robo-Pets Provide Comfort?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-11-04.
  4. ^ Melson, Gail F.; Kahn, Peter H. Jr.; Beck, Alan; Friedman, Batya (2009). "Robotic Pets in Human Lives: Implications for the Human–Animal Bond and for Human Relationships with Personified Technologies". Journal of Social Issues. 65 (3): 545–567. doi:10.1111/j.1540-4560.2009.01613.x. ISSN 1540-4560. S2CID 14314262.
  5. ^ Kahn, Peter H.; Friedman, Batya; Perez-Granados, Deanne R.; Freier, Nathan G. (2004-04-24). "Robotic pets in the lives of preschool children". CHI '04 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems. CHI EA '04. New York, NY, USA: Association for Computing Machinery. pp. 1449–1452. doi:10.1145/985921.986087. ISBN 978-1-58113-703-3. S2CID 1545620.
  6. ^ Melson, Gail F.; Kahn, Peter H.; Beck, Alan M.; Friedman, Batya; Roberts, Trace; Garrett, Erik (2005-04-02). "Robots as dogs?: Children's interactions with the robotic dog AIBO and a live australian shepherd". CHI '05 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems. CHI EA '05. New York, NY, USA: Association for Computing Machinery. pp. 1649–1652. doi:10.1145/1056808.1056988. ISBN 978-1-59593-002-6. S2CID 14656073.
  7. ^ Lazar, Amanda; Thompson, Hilaire J.; Piper, Anne Marie; Demiris, George (2016-06-04). "Rethinking the Design of Robotic Pets for Older Adults". Proceedings of the 2016 ACM Conference on Designing Interactive Systems. DIS '16. New York, NY, USA: Association for Computing Machinery. pp. 1034–1046. doi:10.1145/2901790.2901811. ISBN 978-1-4503-4031-1. S2CID 465783.
  8. ^ Pike, Joanne; Picking, Richard; Cunningham, Stuart (May 2021). "Robot companion cats for people at home with dementia: A qualitative case study on companotics". Dementia. 20 (4): 1300–1318. doi:10.1177/1471301220932780. ISSN 1471-3012. PMID 32668978.