Dogs are a great help for the human race, especially for those who have special needs. There are different service dogs. There are some that could help blind people walk through the streets with a leashed guide, others that help deaf people address the sounds around them through a sound dog that nudges them towards the source of the sound, and even dogs that help those with epilepsy by warning them before it's going to happen and help them move to a location in the area that will cause the least harm for the human when the seizure does occur.
But despite the efforts of these dogs to make sure that their human partners are kept safe from harm, there will come a time when their nudging and pulling won't be enough to save them from danger, and what greatly hinders this is the fact that as of now, animals do not have a means to speak with their humans.
It is for this cause that Melody Jackson, a computer scientist from Georgia Tech, started an animal-computer interaction campaign. She envisions a dog vest with computer functions that allow dogs to communicate with humans with just a press of a button or a hover of their noses on a touchpad.
The vest will also be equipped with other dog tricks like activating GPS coordinates and an SOS alert. Trained dogs have shown how the species is able to respond properly and correctly to instructions. With the wearable gadgets like the vest, it won't be too hard to train these dogs to learn what buttons to press, depending on the situation they find themselves and their humans in.
If the tech proves fruitful, it won't have to end with dogs. Scientists are making systems to help humans and dolphins communicate; others are crafting cat-human video games, and Jackson is making sensors that monitor horses and broadcast signs of impending lameness, according to WIRED.
With so much help that humans get from their pets, it is indeed high time that tech devices are focused on making communication between these species easier.
Jackson has shared the benefits of this tech through TED talk, which you can watch in the video below:
