Perception of artificial conspecifics by bearded dragons (Pogona vitticeps)

Artificial animals are increasingly used as conspecific stimuli in animal behavior research. However, researchers often have an incomplete understanding of how the species under study perceives conspecifics, and hence which features needed for a stimulus to be perceived appropriately. To investigate the features to which bearded dragons (Pogona vitticeps) attend, we measured their lateralized eye use when assessing a successive range of stimuli. These ranged through several stages of realism in artificial conspecifics, to see how features such as color, the presence of eyes, body shape and motion influence behavior. We found differences in lateralized eye use depending on the sex of the observing bearded dragon and the artificial conspecific, as well as the artificial conspecific's behavior. Therefore, this approach can inform the design of robotic animals that elicit biologically-meaningful responses in live animals. [Abstract copyright: This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Methodological challenges of the use of robots in ethological research

Artificial models have been used as interactive partners for decades to study the social behavior of animals. Recent technological developments have opened up novel possibilities by allowing researchers to use remote controlled and autonomous objects in these studies, and Animal-Robot Interaction has become an emerging field of behavior science. However, there are theoretical, methodological and practical issues in ethological research using robotic agents. Here we aimed to provide an overview on robots by classifying them along different aspects to facilitate future research, and to present some novel approaches that could be considered as a guide for researchers who are new to the fields of animal-robot interactions (ARI) and human-robot interactions (HRI). The present review may facilitate future collaboration between biologists/psychologists, robot developers, engineers and programmers that further contributes to the development of novel research methods and procedure

2021 URS Abstract Booklet

Complete Schedule of Events for the 23rd Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium at Minnesota State University, Mankato

Using marker-based motion capture to develop a head bobbing robotic lizard

Robotic animals are regularly used in behavioral experiments, typically in experimental interactions with individuals of the species they were modelled on. In order to do so successfully, these robots need to be designed carefully, taking into consideration the specific perceptual system of the model species. We used marker-based motion capture to measure head bobbing in a widely popular lizard species, bearded dragons, and found that head bobbing is highly stereotypic yet differs subtly when displayed towards males and females. These results were then used for the construction of a robotic lizard, with the aim to use it in behavioral and cognitive studies, focusing on social cognition. This is the first study to use motion capture of head bobbing in lizards to inform the design of a robotic animal

Florida Undergraduate Research Conference

FURC serves as a multi-disciplinary conference through which undergraduate students from the state of Florida can present their research. February 16-17, 2024https://digitalcommons.unf.edu/university_events/1006/thumbnail.jp

Beyond Disability: Extraordinary Bodies in the Work of William Gibson

This dissertation conceptualizes figurations of disability in the work of contemporary U.S.-American writer William Gibson arguing that there is a distinct development in the representation of the manner and effect of corporeality from the Sprawl to the Bigend trilogy. In the Sprawl trilogy, prosthetic repair and rehabilitation are depicted as a common cultural practice, whereas in the Bigend trilogy the medical cure of the characters’ “deficiencies” for purposes of normative alignment is no longer a desired measure. By adopting a disability studies framework, I argue that this transition is not primarily related to a shift in genre, which does exist, but instead that it is motivated by a changing attitude toward the “broken” body that seeks restoration. A main concern of this book is, therefore, to understand the formal qualities of Gibson’s writing with regard to the forms and functions of the disabled figure, and to further demonstrate how this literary style and underlying ideology changes in parallel with the advancement of cultural conceptions of disability. This thesis distinguishes two major shifts over the course of the novels, one on the level of genre and the other on the conceptual level. I show how Gibson’s depiction of characters draws increasingly on a processual understanding of the human body, and decreasingly on traditional prosthetic technologies. This conceptual trajectory from prostheses to processes corresponds with the genre-specific shift in Gibson’s work that I classify as one from technoromanticism to new realism. The analysis is methodologically met with a theoretical triad that feeds on the socio-historical developments of the concept of disability, drawing specifically on the theory of intersectionality, new materialism, and actor-network theory

Beyond the Ebook: Digital Ecologies and the Future of the Author-Publisher Relationship, and Bibliotek: A Novel

This thesis examines changes in book publishing arising from digital distribution and textual ecology, and how these affect the traditional publisher-author relationship. It considers how the inclusion of fan writers into the industry may help publishing develop in positive ways. The critical exegesis develops a model for a transformative, sharing readership to work with the industry, helping to revitalise the form; while the creative component, science fiction novel, Bibliotek, extrapolates how this model could function