Designing for Trust
Autonomous Animal-Centric Robotic & AI Systems

The day (6th of December) will run as 2 sessions. The morning will be a chance to meet and informally talk and discuss the presentations in person, the afternoon session will focus on the Cat Royale project, led by Blast Theory. The workshop and presentations are in person, open and people are welcome to drop in as they please. The Keynote and first two presentations will be accessible online.
Please email Alan.Chamberlain@Nottingham.ac.uk for access (before the PM 2nd of December). 

We welcome participants from any background.

10.00 Start (Cobot Maker Space - University of Nottingham (Jubilee Campus))

 

Welcome and Introductions – a chance for people to introduce themselves and briefly talk about their interests.

Keynote by Jane Tyson - RSPCA Research 

What is Animal Welfare? How can Technology Impact it?

This session looks at animal welfare, including how an animal's welfare and quality of life can be assessed. I'll then speak about technology and give some examples of how it's utilised in various animal husbandry situations, as well as some potentials for the future, and how further advances in technology may help in our care of animals. We'll also cover some of the considerations, including potential risks, that should be thought about as new technology is being created.

This session will be spilt into 2 - one looking specifically at animal welfare and how it can be assessed, and the second part about technology and how that can have an impact on animals and their welfare

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About Jane

"I am an animal welfare scientist and joined the RSPCAs Science and Policy Group, specifically the Companion Animals Department in 2013. Prior to this, I completed a PhD in biomechanics which focused on investigating flight behaviour and performance in homing pigeons. I also hold a degree in Animal Science and a MSc in Applied Animal Behaviour and Welfare. On the more practical front of working with animals, I have spent time working, volunteering and conducting research within the animal rescue centre environment. My role at the RSPCA focuses around providing advice and information to various audiences, predominantly about the welfare and behaviour of the traditional small animal species commonly kept as pets. As well as this I work with academics, government, industry and other NGOs to promote, and improve, animal welfare standards. Combining my practical experience and academic training, alongside a common sense approach, I am well placed to provide pragmatic advice to help improve animal welfare."

 

Session 1 – Trust, Autonomy and ACI

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Understanding context through insights about cats
Kim Snooks - Lancaster University
 

Self-tracking systems show one perspective of health and wellbeing through curated narratives about what ‘healthy’ and ‘well’ is. This subjective viewpoint lacks context and therefore supports some more than others resulting in incorrect insights which could lead to distrust in the system and also create harm i.e. setting unrealistic goals that might not be possible to achieve. Companion animal tracking systems are designed in the same way, meaning there are problems for both humans and non-humans. We ask if people were given multiple perspectives of data, how would this change their understanding of what data insights meant/showed? To do this we interviewed cat owners about their understanding of data before sending them messages with varying levels of context about what a cat was doing. Following this we discussed in a workshop what people’s thoughts are around understanding context in tracking systems.  

Animals and Robots. Why should we (and animals) care?
Pericle Salvini & Marina Jirotka - University of Oxford

The objective of this presentation is to offer some reflections – based on evidence - of how the life of animals and humans could change (for the worse) as a consequence of the replacement of pets with animaloids.

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Responsible Research and Innovation: AI and Robotics in the Context of Multi-Species-Centred DesignResponsible Research and Innovation
Peter Craigon, Chris Greenhalgh et al - University of Nottingham 

Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) invites researchers and innovators to consider the “bigger picture” surrounding their work, including its long-term impacts and its value to society. The RRI Prompts and Practice cards provide one possible way to prompt researchers to reflect on different aspects of Responsible Research and Innovation in their own projects.​ In this activity we will consider together a near-future scenario involving an autonomous robotic assistant in a multi-species household. We will mutually interrogate both the scenario and the perspective on RRI that are inscribed in the cards. This will invite reflection on the distinctive challenges for RRI in this space.
Cards - (https://tas.ac.uk/responsible-research-innovation/rri-prompts-and-practice-cards/)

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Feedback and Panel

 

12.30 – 1.30 Lunch - a lunch pack will be provided
 

Group Activity
 

Introducing the Co-Bot maker Space 
Dominic Price - University of Nottingham

A chance to explore this exciting space with Dominic and ask questions about the space, the equipment, find out what it's all about and hear about the Digital Twins for Human - Assistive Robot Teams project.

 

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Session 2 – Blast Theory led session

Arts, Autonomy and Cat Royale 

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This session will be led by Blast theory and gives the participants the chance to hear about the work on their latest piece Cat Royale and introduces the concept behind the piece and its development.

This is an open session guided by the artists, and it is hoped that this session will enable and support reflection based on the earlier sessions.

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Feedback - Open Panel.

Wrap up and concluding remarks.

 

4.00 End





 

Donations to the RSPCA can be made here

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