A Utopian World (Room) For Cats and Artificial Intelligence to Live in Harmony
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| Cat Royale: A Multispecies World |
In this age of automation, humans rely on machines to carry out their tasks, whether big or small. From Roombas that can clean floors to mechanical arms that perform head transplants, automation is spreading like wildfire. And each version is only getting better with time and advancements in technology.
Despite making life easier, automation especially Artificial Intelligence is guilty of dubious morals. Recently, fear for job security has been abundant due to Artificial Intelligence replacing human jobs, particularly in the minimum wage sector. AI is everywhere in the form of delivery robots, lawnmowers, housekeepers, medical assistants and many more. It has become a constant in human life, much like companion pets.
If even Humans capable of understanding this technology are weary of it, How will animals fare? How can we expect animals to co-exist with robots and AI?
Cat Royal, a multispecies world was designed to enrich the lives of cats through play. The work was created as part of an extensive collaboration with researchers at the Mixed Reality Lab at the University of Nottingham; and with Professor Clara Mancini at the Open University and Professor Daniel Mills at the University of Lincoln. The stars of this experiment were Ghostbuster, Pumpkin and Clover.
Ghostbuster is the oldest of the three. He is a four-year-old Siamese cat. The researchers commented that this fur ball is an attention seeker with a supersonic ‘meow’. Pumpkin is a three-year-old ginger and white cat. Not one for physical activity his hobby was to cuddle with the researchers and sleep in cubbyholes. Clover is a three-year-old Calico cat. She was a lively little thing who treated all rooms like an obstacle course.
The cats stayed in this multispecies room for 6 hours a day for 12 days. During the stay, their every need was catered for. The room was fully carpeted and scratch-proofed to allow free movement. The cats were fed, groomed and kept in an air conditioner. The rooms had ledges, and cubbyholes for them to climb on.
A giant robot arm was at the centre of the room. The arm was controlled by artificial intelligence and connected to a computer vision system. The AI learned what games the cats liked to play and even their personal preferences through the instructions given to the robot arm to offer games to the cats. The robot threw balls or dropped them into a ball run. It dangled feathers, offered snacks and introduced a cardboard box. It rang bells and dragged a toy mouse.
The cats’ safety was paramount to the team who wanted to prove the credibility of Autonomous systems. They wanted to show pet owners that a robot arm can take care of their bets with a similar relationship of love and trust. The behaviour and personality of each cat were taken into consideration when crafting a safety and comfort system for it.
This project was successful in proving the trustworthiness of automation and Artificial Intelligence. But it has also unintentionally proved that despite technological advancement and the rise of AI it is not wholly reliable and human intervention is required.
A cat welfare officer was appointed to monitor the welfare of the cats throughout the project. This human was responsible for feeding and grooming the cats. They regulated the temperature and light to fit the needs of the cats. This person was responsible for stopping the operation at any given emergency.
Cat Royale was an example to show the world that Artificial Intelligence and Automation can be designed and implemented in a way that is useful to humans and animals without causing harm. It also explained how technology may affect animals who are exposed to it and how humans may enable them to participate in the design of technology that improves both their well-being and human-animal relations.
References
1. Schneiders H., Benford S., Chamberlain A., Mancini C., Castle-Green S., Ngo V., Farr J. R.,Adams M., Tandavanitj N., and Fischer J. Designing Multispecies Worlds for Robots, Cats, and Humans. In Proceedings of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '24). Association for Computing Machinery (2024), 593, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1145/3613904.3642115
2. Blast Theory. Cat Royale [Internet]. Blast Theory; [cited 2024 June 6]. Available from: https://www.blasttheory.co.uk/projects/cat-royale/
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