Skip to main content

Clever new haptic vest could let rescue dogs take commands from miles away

Remote Controlled Haptic Vest for Dogs

Dogs are incredibly smart animals. They can be trained to carry out tasks in response to everything from spoken words or whistles to visual cues. At Ben-Gurion University in Israel, researchers have been working to add one more mode of interaction to the list: Giving dogs a haptic jacket that can be used to provide instructions through specific vibrations. In doing so, it could be possible to communicate information to dogs using the click of a mouse or the tap of a mobile device in scenarios when other forms of communication are not available. (Think long-distances or scenarios in which a person has a disability that makes speaking or executing hand gestures impossible!)

Recommended Videos

“We developed a dog vest that has four embedded vibration motors,” researcher Yoav Golan, who worked on the project, told Digital Trends. “Each of these motors can be controlled separately, and are programmed to perform preset vibration patterns, based on an input signal from a remote control.”

The team used their prototype device to demonstrate that it is possible for dogs to learn multiple haptic commands in a way that could prove useful.

“We taught a dog four commands that have haptic cues, intentionally removing any spatial significance,” Goland continued. “[For example,] we didn’t want to have a vibration on the dog’s right side to mean the dog should go right, or vibration on its left side to mean ‘go left,’ but rather selected commands that have no special spatial significance, such as ‘come to me,’ which is associated with a pulsing vibration on the dog’s front-left side.”

Dror Einav

They also demonstrated that dogs could tell the difference between two different-but-similar signal patterns at the same location. For instance, they taught the dog a “spin” command, as well as a “walk backward” command. The first of these was signified by a constant vibration on its front-right side. The second was signified by a pulsing vibration at the same location. The dog was successfully able to distinguish between the two commands, showing that a small number of motors can be used to transmit a potentially large number of different commands.

Next up, the researchers aim to test out the technology on a large number of dogs of varying breeds, ages and training backgrounds. This will give a better idea of how quick dogs are to learn haptic commands, what type of commands are easier to distinguish, and details such as how different types of fur affect received sensations.

Who knows: if all goes well, maybe it won’t be too long before you can buy a vest like this at your local pet store. Then all you’ll have to do is train your beloved pooch to understand the commands …

Luke Dormehl
Former Digital Trends Contributor
I'm a UK-based tech writer covering Cool Tech at Digital Trends. I've also written for Fast Company, Wired, the Guardian…
BYD’s cheap EVs might remain out of Canada too
BYD Han

With Chinese-made electric vehicles facing stiff tariffs in both Europe and America, a stirring question for EV drivers has started to arise: Can the race to make EVs more affordable continue if the world leader is kept out of the race?

China’s BYD, recognized as a global leader in terms of affordability, had to backtrack on plans to reach the U.S. market after the Biden administration in May imposed 100% tariffs on EVs made in China.

Read more
Tesla posts exaggerate self-driving capacity, safety regulators say
Beta of Tesla's FSD in a car.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is concerned that Tesla’s use of social media and its website makes false promises about the automaker’s full-self driving (FSD) software.
The warning dates back from May, but was made public in an email to Tesla released on November 8.
The NHTSA opened an investigation in October into 2.4 million Tesla vehicles equipped with the FSD software, following three reported collisions and a fatal crash. The investigation centers on FSD’s ability to perform in “relatively common” reduced visibility conditions, such as sun glare, fog, and airborne dust.
In these instances, it appears that “the driver may not be aware that he or she is responsible” to make appropriate operational selections, or “fully understand” the nuances of the system, NHTSA said.
Meanwhile, “Tesla’s X (Twitter) account has reposted or endorsed postings that exhibit disengaged driver behavior,” Gregory Magno, the NHTSA’s vehicle defects chief investigator, wrote to Tesla in an email.
The postings, which included reposted YouTube videos, may encourage viewers to see FSD-supervised as a “Robotaxi” instead of a partially automated, driver-assist system that requires “persistent attention and intermittent intervention by the driver,” Magno said.
In one of a number of Tesla posts on X, the social media platform owned by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, a driver was seen using FSD to reach a hospital while undergoing a heart attack. In another post, a driver said he had used FSD for a 50-minute ride home. Meanwhile, third-party comments on the posts promoted the advantages of using FSD while under the influence of alcohol or when tired, NHTSA said.
Tesla’s official website also promotes conflicting messaging on the capabilities of the FSD software, the regulator said.
NHTSA has requested that Tesla revisit its communications to ensure its messaging remains consistent with FSD’s approved instructions, namely that the software provides only a driver assist/support system requiring drivers to remain vigilant and maintain constant readiness to intervene in driving.
Tesla last month unveiled the Cybercab, an autonomous-driving EV with no steering wheel or pedals. The vehicle has been promoted as a robotaxi, a self-driving vehicle operated as part of a ride-paying service, such as the one already offered by Alphabet-owned Waymo.
But Tesla’s self-driving technology has remained under the scrutiny of regulators. FSD relies on multiple onboard cameras to feed machine-learning models that, in turn, help the car make decisions based on what it sees.
Meanwhile, Waymo’s technology relies on premapped roads, sensors, cameras, radar, and lidar (a laser-light radar), which might be very costly, but has met the approval of safety regulators.

Read more
Waymo, Nexar present AI-based study to protect ‘vulnerable’ road users
waymo data vulnerable road users ml still  1 ea18c3

Robotaxi operator Waymo says its partnership with Nexar, a machine-learning tech firm dedicated to improving road safety, has yielded the largest dataset of its kind in the U.S., which will help inform the driving of its own automated vehicles.

As part of its latest research with Nexar, Waymo has reconstructed hundreds of crashes involving what it calls ‘vulnerable road users’ (VRUs), such as pedestrians walking through crosswalks, biyclists in city streets, or high-speed motorcycle riders on highways.

Read more