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Romano D, Porfiri M, Zahadat P, Schmickl T. Animal-robot interaction-an emerging field at the intersection of biology and robotics. BIOINSPIRATION & BIOMIMETICS 2024; 19:020201. [PMID: 38305303 DOI: 10.1088/1748-3190/ad2086] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/06/2023] [Accepted: 01/19/2024] [Indexed: 02/03/2024]
Abstract
The field of animal-robot and organism-robot interaction systems (ARIS, ORIS) is a currently rapidly emerging field in biorobotics. In this special issue we aim for providing a comprehensive overview of the cutting-edge advancements and pioneering breakthroughs within this scientific and engineering discipline. Therefore, we collected scientific articles that delineate and expound upon the complexity of these remarkable biohybrid systems. These configurations stand as engineered conduits, facilitating the accurate investigation and profound exploration of the multifaceted interactions between robotic devices and biological entities, including various fish species, honeybees and plants. Also the human factor plays a role in this collection, as we also include a philosophical perspective on such systems as well as an augmented reality setup that brings humans into the loop with living fish. Within our editorial purview, we categorize the scientific contributions based on their focal points, differentiating between examinations of singular agent-to-agent interactions, extensions to the social stratum, and further expansions to the intricate levels of swarm dynamics, colonies, populations, and ecosystems. Considering potential applications, we delve into the multifaceted domains wherein these biohybrid systems might be applied. This discourse culminates in a tentative glimpse into the future trajectories these technologies might traverse, elucidating their promising prospects for both scientific advancement and societal enrichment. In sum, this special issue aims at facilitating the convergence of diverse insights, at encapsulating the richness of the ARIS and ORIS domain, and at charting a course toward the untapped prospects lying at the nexus of biology and robotics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Donato Romano
- Bio-Robotic Ecosystems Lab of The Biorobotics Institute, & Department of Excellence in Robotics and AI, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa, Italy
| | - Maurizio Porfiri
- Center for Urban Science and Progress, Department of Biomedical Engineering, & Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Tandon School of Engineering, New York University, Brooklyn, NY 11201, United States of America
| | - Payam Zahadat
- Robotics, Evolution and Art Lab, Department of Computer Science, IT University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Thomas Schmickl
- Artificial Life Laboratory of the Institute of Biology, Department of Zoology, University of Graz, Graz, Austria
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Siddall R. Ethorobotic rats for rodent behavioral research: design considerations. Front Behav Neurosci 2023; 17:1281494. [PMID: 38187923 PMCID: PMC10771285 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2023.1281494] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2023] [Accepted: 11/28/2023] [Indexed: 01/09/2024] Open
Abstract
The development of robots as tools for biological research, sometimes termed "biorobotics", has grown rapidly in recent years, fueled by the proliferation of miniaturized computation and advanced manufacturing techniques. Much of this work is focused on the use of robots as biomechanical models for natural systems. But, increasingly, biomimetic robots are being employed to interact directly with animals, as component parts of ethology studies in the field and behavioral neuroscience studies in the laboratory. While it has been possible to mechanize and automate animal behavior experiments for decades, only recently has there been the prospect of creating at-scale robotic animals containing the sensing, autonomy and actuation necessary for complex, life-like interaction. This not only opens up new avenues of enquiry, but also provides important ways to improve animal welfare, both by reducing or replacing the use of animal subjects, and by minimizing animal distress (if robots are used judiciously). This article will discuss the current state of the art in robotic lab rats, providing perspective on where research could be directed to enable the safe and effective use of biorobotic animals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert Siddall
- School of Mechanical Engineering Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, United Kingdom
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Shi Q, Gao Z, Jia G, Li C, Huang Q, Ishii H, Takanishi A, Fukuda T. Implementing Rat-Like Motion for a Small-Sized Biomimetic Robot Based on Extraction of Key Movement Joints. IEEE T ROBOT 2021. [DOI: 10.1109/tro.2020.3033705] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
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PiRat: An autonomous framework for studying social behaviour in rats and robots. PROCEEDINGS OF THE ... IEEE/RSJ INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INTELLIGENT ROBOTS AND SYSTEMS. IEEE/RSJ INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INTELLIGENT ROBOTS AND SYSTEMS 2018; 2018:7601-7608. [PMID: 34621592 DOI: 10.1109/iros.2018.8594060] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
The use of robots, as a social stimulus, provides several advantages over using another animal. In particular, for rat-robot studies, robots can produce social behaviour that is reproducible across trials. In the current work, we outline a framework for rat-robot interaction studies, that consists of a novel rat-sized robot (PiRat), models of robotic behavior, and a position tracking system for both robot and rat. We present the design of the framework, including constraints on autonomy, latency, and control. We pilot tested our framework by individually running the robot rat with eight different rats, first through a habituation stage, and then with PiRat performing two different types of behaviour - avoiding and frequently approaching. We evaluate the performance of the framework on latency and autonomy, and on the ability to influence the behaviour of individual rats. We find that the framework performs well on its constraints, engages some of the rats (according to the number of meetings), and features a control scheme that produces reproducible behaviour in rats. These features represent a first demonstration of a closed-loop rat-robot framework.
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del Angel Ortiz R, Contreras CM, Gutiérrez-Garcia AG, González MFM. Social Interaction Test between a Rat and a Robot: A Pilot Study. INT J ADV ROBOT SYST 2016. [DOI: 10.5772/62015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
The social interaction test is based on spontaneous behaviour observed between pairs of animals, usually rodents. Commonly, the behaviour of one of the members in the dyad is related to the behaviour of its partner; therefore, making accurate predictions about behaviour is difficult, and the behaviour of the dyad cannot be controlled. In the present study, we programmed an e-puck robot with simple behavioural patterns, such as moving around a cage and following and approaching a rat. The results were analysed by comparing behaviour that was displayed by two groups of experimental rats towards different types of partners: (i) in the first group of experimental rats, they interacted with another group of rats and (ii) in the second group of experimental rats, they interacted with the e-puck robot. Our aim was to study the behaviour of experimental rats in the social interaction test when the interaction partner is a pre-programmed robot, in order to find out whether a rat is able to display social interaction activities in that context. Those activities were evaluated by a structured scheme of possible behaviours, quantified in categories according to currently well-accepted nomenclature and definitions. In order to achieve this goal, we compared the social and non-social behaviour displayed by the experimental rat in rat-rat and rat-robot interactions (such as approaching and following behaviour). We observed predominantly non-social behaviours, such as exploring the cage, when the experimental rats confronted either another rat or the robot. The experimental rats displayed similar periods of approaching, sniffing and crawling (social behaviour), exploring, being quiet, self-grooming and evading (non-social behaviour) in encountering both the rat and the robot. However, in the presence of the robot, the experimental rats displayed long periods of time spent in following, in contrast to short periods of immobility. In the present study, we explored a behavioural repertoire that was classified into the social and the non-social, in which the robot was usually able to elicit social behaviour from the rat. The results of our experiments open possibilities for additional studies on social interaction in robot-live rat dyads (e.g., in predator-prey models).
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Affiliation(s)
- Rusalky del Angel Ortiz
- Laboratorio de Neurofarmacología, Instituto de Neuroetología, Universidad Veracruzana, México
| | - Carlos M. Contreras
- Laboratorio de Neurofarmacología, Instituto de Neuroetología, Universidad Veracruzana, México
- Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México
| | - Ana G. Gutiérrez-Garcia
- Laboratorio de Neurofarmacología, Instituto de Neuroetología, Universidad Veracruzana, México
- Facultad de Psicología. Universidad Veracruzana, México
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Shi Q, Ishii H, Tanaka K, Sugahara Y, Takanishi A, Okabayashi S, Huang Q, Fukuda T. Behavior modulation of rats to a robotic rat in multi-rat interaction. BIOINSPIRATION & BIOMIMETICS 2015; 10:056011. [PMID: 26414400 DOI: 10.1088/1748-3190/10/5/056011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
In this paper, we study the behavioral response of rats to a robotic rat during multi-rat interaction. Experiments are conducted in an open-field where a robotic rat called WR-5 is put together with three laboratory rats. WR-5 is following one rat (target), while avoiding the other two rats (outside observers) during interaction. The behavioral characteristics of each target rat is evaluated by scoring its locomotor activity and frequencies of performing rearing, body grooming and mounting actions. Additionally, the frequency of being mounted by other rats is also measured. Experimental results show that the target becomes more active after interaction. The rat species, with more active behavioral characteristics, is more susceptible to being adjusted by the robot. The increased time spent by the outside observers in the vicinity of the robot indicates that a biomimetic robot has the promise for modulating rat behavior even without direct interaction. Thus, this study provide a novel approach to shaping the sociality of animals living in groups.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qing Shi
- Intelligent Robotics Institute, School of Mechatronical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, 100081, People's Republic of China. Centre for Advanced Biomedical Sciences, TWInS, Waseda University, Tokyo,162-8480, Japan
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Shi Q, Ishii H, Kinoshita S, Takanishi A, Okabayashi S, Iida N, Kimura H, Shibata S. Modulation of rat behaviour by using a rat-like robot. BIOINSPIRATION & BIOMIMETICS 2013; 8:046002. [PMID: 24091776 DOI: 10.1088/1748-3182/8/4/046002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/02/2023]
Abstract
In this paper, we study the response of a rat to a rat-like robot capable of generating different types of behaviour (stressful, friendly, neutral). Experiments are conducted in an open-field where a rat-like robot called WR-4 is put together with live rats. The activity level of each rat subject is evaluated by scoring its locomotor activity and frequencies of performing rearing (rising up on its hind limbs) and body grooming (body cuddling and head curling) actions, whereas the degree of preference of that is indicated by the robot-rat distance and the frequency of contacting WR-4. The moving speed and behaviour of WR-4 are controlled in real-time based on the feedback from rat motion. The activity level and degree of preference of rats for each experimental condition are analysed and compared to understand the influence of robot behaviour. The results of this study show that the activity level and degree of preference of the rat decrease when exposed to a stressful robot, and increase when the robot exhibit friendly behaviour, suggesting that a rat-like robot can modulate rat behaviour in a controllable, predictable way.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qing Shi
- Intelligent Robotics Institute, School of Mechatronical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, People's Republic of China. Waseda University, TWIns, 2-2, Wakamatsu-cho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-8480, Japan
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Abstract
SUMMARYWe developed a novel small rat-like robot calledWasedaRat No.4(WR-4) to interact with real rats. WR-4 can perform both rearing (rising up on its hind limbs) and rotating (body bending during movement) actions faster than live mature rats. After robot–rat interaction involving rearing and body grooming (body cuddling and head curling) actions of WR-4, real rats showed more activity and greater interest in the robot. Similar results evident from rat–rat interaction suggest that a rat-like robot is able to interact with rats in the same way as real rats. Furthermore, lower variances between the rat subjects in robot–rat interaction reveals that a rat-like robot can more effectively impact rat's behavior in a controllable, predictable way.
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