Animals, Human Beings and Technologies: New Relations and New Interactions for Improved Efficiency

In this paper, we describe an approach to extend the classical human-machine, human-animal and animal-technologies relationship, with a triptych scheme with which one of the three components provide added value to the relation between the two others. We give an example where the technology provides added value to the blind person – guide dog relationship. The objective is to reassure the blind person through a system that enables them to localise the dog and to be sure that the distance between the dog and its master is relevant depending on the place, time of the day and density of people in the immediate environment. Measurement of the ambient noise, natural communication through embedded microphone and loudspeakers, GPS localisation chips, and mobile communication equip both the user’s interface and the dog’s collar to implement the functionalities