US Army trials augmented reality goggles for dogs

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-54465361

by tomalpha • 6 years ago

61 75 6 years ago

bbc.com

082349872349872• 6 years ago

It's all fun and games until someone fields CBIEDs.

Bonus story: https://archive.org/stream/thegameofratandd29614gut/29614.tx...

normanmatrix• 6 years ago

Makes sense, enhance a dog's vision and he got scent and vision to see through the world into the abyss.

scandox2• 6 years ago

I think augmented noses for humans would be much better.

tokai2• 6 years ago

A human with an augmented nose, would still be a bad choice to fill the role of an attack or bomb dog. Regardless of how good that nose is.

scandox2• 6 years ago

Well agreed but I was thinking in more general terms of who requires augmentation.

throwaway0a5e• 6 years ago

Pretty much all dogs that use their nose for work are never more than 5ft away from their handler.

nix233• 6 years ago

Just with integrated packet filter...have you ever been in Delhi?

cannedslime• 6 years ago

Makes sense, you could easily train a dog to react with aggression towards targets outlined in a certain way, even point it in the direction it should go etc. Dogs are not stupid and they are always very eager to learn and decode what you want them to. (Well, most dogs, when they are at a certain age at least)

yetihehe4• 6 years ago

Dogs are not stupid and they are always very eager to learn and decode what you want them to.

Yeah, many are so clever that they very convincingly pretend they don't know what you want. My dog sometimes does this when he doesn't want to go back home. Being smart and obedient are two orthogonal things.

seg_lol3• 6 years ago

Being smart and obedient are two orthogonal things.

I used to think that, but I think a more accurate picture across all sentient social creatures is the following.

IQ on range 0-10 (0 being the lowest)

- 0-4, too low to understand commands, ignorant disobedience, easily confused

- 5-6, mostly obedient, only disobedient through distraction (food, mates, tired, stressed)

- 6-8, can overcome some of physical and situational issues, occasionally disobedient due to IQ

- 9-10, freewill, obedient only as a peer. Will absolutely not do something it doesn't want to do.

ben_w2• 6 years ago

Doggles are, like so many products, both clearly a good idea and not something I would have expected to ever exist even just five years ago.

I hope there are also civilian models — entertaining dogs doesn’t just need to be about throwing balls, and I can imagine AR hare chasing could be a lot of fun for some.

nix233• 6 years ago

and I can imagine AR hare chasing could be a lot of fun for some.

Yes, first he destroys your room, hurts himself by running into walls and after 10 minutes he throw up all over your place.

PleasePlease let a animal be an animal and make other games with it.

https://www.puppyleaks.com/games/

It needs you and not a TV/PC whatever (counts for any children too btw)

ben_w2• 6 years ago

I was thinking outdoors use for the hare-chasing idea.

dTal• 6 years ago

I upvoted you just for "doggles".

kalium-xyz2• 6 years ago

Its always interesting to see the demand for goggles for dogs. Dogs needing goggles for missions isnt modern and when you think about it this is a logical expansion. Did you know polaroid started as a company selling polarized sunglasses for dogs?

Theodores• 6 years ago

Eye protection for dogs is one of those product areas that could do with more marketing. I have never seen a dog wearing eye protection in the UK ever. Yet the reasons for eye protection make a lot of sense if you believe the marketing claims.

The market could be manipulated with advertising so that it is perceived to be grossly irresponsible to let your dog off the lead without eye protection. Random strangers could tut-tut as they see your dog bereft of eye protection. Think bicycle helmets all over again where everyone who doesn't ride thinks they know best and demand to be listened to as they have the moral high ground.

So if you are in this climate of mandatory dog eyewear then you might as well have AR dog goggles. You could text your dog when it is food time - not that he or she wouldn't know anyway. With geofencing you could have your dog's goggles flash up no entry signs when they get too close to the road. Of course the goggles could be cheaper than their Oculus Rift equivalents as dogs only 'need' mono.

I look forward to the world where all dogs are wearing cool shades.

bdowling2• 6 years ago

In current combat deployments, soldiers usually direct their animals with hand signals or laser pointers - both of which require the handler to be close by.

Handlers also use radios with earpieces for the dogs and cameras and microphones to provide feedback to the handlers. This AR system may enable the handlers to give more precise instructions to their dogs.

rtkwe• 6 years ago

Yeah with this they can in theory lead the dog through a whole building where it'd be really hard with just a radio and camera. They'll have to train the dog for any new signals but they can just replicate the laser pointer plus voice commands they're using now in the AR headset.

aaron695• 6 years ago

Wow, an actual use for AR.

It takes a humans applied intelligence to give a dog augmented reality.

So to give a human augmented reality, using napkin maths, would take an intelligence well above ours. General AI.

That fits.

cryptica• 6 years ago

So great to see our taxpayer dollars being put to good use. My dog Brutus can hardly wait to get his paws on a pair of these AR goggles.

Brutus loves Modern Monetary Theory. Today we have hotels for dogs, shoes for dogs, scuba diving gear for dogs... Jerome Powell sure knows how to keep my mutt satisfied.

Maybe I should start walking around on all fours and the economy will start treating me well.

mellosouls2• 6 years ago

A less cool sub-story here is the way brilliant animals like dogs are considered disposable on our behalf in the name of violence created by us.

The goggles are designed to let their handlers direct them, safely out of harm's way.

yetihehe4• 6 years ago

Even less cool sub-story is the way briliant people serving as soldiers are considered disposable on behalf of their government in the name of violence created by that government.

mellosouls2• 6 years ago

Good point - but soldiers at least have a choice in enlisting and have some idea of potential consequences.

tug0fwar• 6 years ago

... we have overdeveloped the material aspects of existence at the expense of the deeper emotional and spiritual aspects, and we are paying the price for that error.

- Mindfulness in Plain English

notsuoh2• 6 years ago

No one who enlists into the military with eyes wide open or who has even cursory access to the internet or films thinks they aren't making a choice that would potentially make them disposable to the military. It's true some people decide that's worth the risk to get college money or some "life skills" or for another myriad of reasons, but it is literally a contract they sign and must be of sound mind to do so.

If I decide to become an undersea welder, one of the most dangerous jobs, because the money is good, then I am accepting the risk of getting injured or killed, though I hope I would not have harm befall me. Either way I'm making the choice based on my circumstances.

A dog didn't sign up for or agree to any of this.

kordlessagain• 6 years ago

Even less cool sub-story is the way brilliant people sit behind computers typing code for companies who consider their "users" disposable income objects.

fhood5• 6 years ago

Dogs are more disposable than people? And I love dogs, but I don't see why they would inherently deserve better treatment than a cow or pig, and honestly if you oppose mistreatment of animals, than the cow or pig is probably suffering a hell of a lot more than the dog in this scenario.

Edit: https://xkcd.com/2368/ Lol, guilty, but if you want to talk about the moral imperative of vegetarianism than I am willing to listen.

lostlogin2• 6 years ago

Dogs got personality, personality goes a long way.

notsuoh2• 6 years ago

14,000 years of being domesticated to serve as companions for humans is the inherent reason that works for me. Cows or pigs don't have the same history of domestication to be companions. Dogs share a special bond with humans and a special place in our society. Rightly or wrongly, and admittedly cows and pigs suffer to certainly the same extent that any factory farmed animal suffers, dogs serve a different purpose.

Given this history and bond, to eat or put dogs in danger is in my mind almost as morally objectionable as putting a person in grievous danger against their will.

Communitivity2• 6 years ago

People are considered disposable too, if the mission value is crucial enough to save the lives of more people - enough so that there is a term for it 'expendable'. When your unit is declared expendable the mission objective is deemed more valuable than the lives in your unit, a rare thing that is supposed to happen only when the unit giving up their lives can save many more. I learned about expendable units from my dad, a radio operator at the tail end of the Korean War. Airborne leadership expected the North Koreans to attack during the treaty talks. My dad's unit was placed where they'd likely attack and told to give early warning and attempt to slow them down, at all costs - that they were declared expendable.

Thankfully they didn't attack or I wouldn't likely be here. There's a good story linked below about an expendable unit in Burma named Merrill's Maruaders [1].

Other animals have been used in more questionable ways too, such as the Navy Marine Mammal Program's use of dolphins to find and mark mines [2]

[1] https://www.army.mil/article/173880/expendable_wwii_merrills...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Navy_Marine_Mamm...

Nbox92• 6 years ago

The entire point of war is that collectively one group of people are willing to kill the other group of people over an argument.

The value of a life isn’t universal. Some lives are worth more than others, both to individuals and to collective groups.

DrBazza• 6 years ago

Not so disposable that the dogs don't get their own body armour, receive medals, and are loved by their colleagues (i.e. handlers).

Just like soldiers.

Frankly, we just need to stop shooting each other. But that's never going to happen.

neurobashing• 6 years ago

So, how long until we mount a suppressed weapon so the dog can sneak up and do sentry elimination?

wittyreference• 6 years ago

I have a hard time picturing a situation where that would be better than a similarly armed drone.

fhood5• 6 years ago

I dunno, have you played MGSV?

captainredbeard• 6 years ago

Unlike in the movies, suppressed weapons are still quite loud.

tmilard2• 6 years ago

I see it as a sign of desesparation to find a viable market of augmented reality goggles.

Nbox92• 6 years ago

Really? The US Army is a fantastic innovator and business partner to have. If I could choose a single customer based solely on business value of the relationship the US Department of Defense might be it.

tmilard2• 6 years ago

I agree. I was mainly reacting to the goggle-dog experiment. I do not see this as a serious market.

pmlnr• 6 years ago

Ng Security Industries Semi-Autonomous Guard Unit #A-367 lives in a pleasant black-and-white Metaverse where porterhouse steaks grow on trees, dangling at head level from low branches, and blood-drenched Frisbees fly through the crisp, cool air for no reason at all, until you catch them.

/Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson/

Communitivity2• 6 years ago

Kudos sir or madam or nonbinary, you beat me to the punch. I saw the headline and Ng industries was the first thing I thought of, followed by remembering Boston Dynamics robotic dog Spot [1].

[1] https://www.bostondynamics.com/spot

kyuudou2• 6 years ago

Have you seen Spot in Singapore parks yet?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viuR7N6E2LA

Makes me want to work on miniaturizing HERF guns for commercial distribution.

ProAm• 6 years ago

Such a waster of tax payer dollars. I would rather have health care.

seg_lol3• 6 years ago

Awesomely Dystopian, the comments in this thread all point out a different distinct horror.

Everything applied to these dogs will be applied to a person at some point.

On I haven't seen is that the dogs could be directed by a goal seeking ML agent instead of their normal human handler. The same AI that wins at Starcraft now has dog based actuator in the physical world. No need for robots.

fhood5• 6 years ago

Fighter pilots have been using AR goggles for a while now, and I don't think the world has ended as a result but I could have missed it.

seg_lol3• 6 years ago

Now we can have standard poodles flying those F35s.

bjarneh• 6 years ago

Even dogs get to try out those VR glasses I've been hearing about since the mid 90s before me..

coldcode• 6 years ago

For some reason this reminded me of the Russians trying to train dogs to take out tanks in WW2.

joejohnson• 6 years ago

Universal healthcare is too expensive, how would you ever pay for that?

US Army trials augmented reality goggles for dogs

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