Working dogs have improved the lives of thousands of people.
However, communication between human and canine partners is currently
limited. The main goal of the FIDO project is to research fundamental
aspects of wearable technologies to support communication between working
dogs and their handlers. In this pilot study, the FIDO team investigated
on-body interfaces for assistance dogs in the form of wearable technology
integrated into assistance dog vests. We created four different sensors that
dogs could activate (based on biting, tugging, and nose gestures) and tested
them on-body with three assistance-trained dogs. We were able to demonstrate
that it is possible to create wearable sensors that dogs can reliably
activate on command.