The researchers from Glasgow University found that white-faced saki monkeys at Korkeasaari Zoo in Helsinki preferred to use their mouths, teeth and hands to pull switches and swing panels from side to side.
Their collaboration, which suggests that monkeys may have their own preferences for the design of buttons, could inform the development of interactive enrichment activities for zoo animals in the future.
The research, presented today (February 27, 2023) at the International Conference on Tangible Embedded and Embodied Interaction in Warsaw, is a joint project by animal-computer interaction specialists Vilma Kankaanpää and Dr Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas.
In a statement, Dr Hirskyj-Douglas, of Glasgow University’s School of Computing Science, said: “Interactive digital systems have a lot of potential for enriching the lives of zoo animals by giving them new experiences and more control over their daily activities. However, it’s still a new field of research, and we have a lot to learn about how animals want to interact with computer systems.”
Vilma Kankaanpää, also of the School of Computing Science, said: “Many previous designs have tasked animals with controlling computers in human-like ways - using their fingers to touch screens, for example. However, animals often interact with the world in distinctly different ways from humans. They use their mouths, feet and tails as well as their hands, and may prefer to use that expanded range of interaction for interactive activities.
“What we wanted to explore was whether we could develop a system of interaction in co-operation with saki monkeys, which centred on their preferences and could help guide future iterations of animal-facing interactive systems.”
The researchers used rapid prototyping, a development process more commonly used in human-computer interaction, to build buttons and switches mounted on wooden panels for the zoo’s three white-faced sakis to try out.
The monkeys could push levers, press buttons, pull balls and swing a panel. These interactions could be used to control interactive systems in the future, the team said.
Over the course of the study, which developed the prototypes across four design iterations, the monkeys appeared to prefer the systems which allowed them to use their mouths and hands to pull and swing items.
The most appealing surfaces for them to interact with appeared to be ones which were colourful, and which were sized to allow the monkeys to easily grip them with their hands and mouths.
Dr Hirskyj-Douglas said: “Rapid prototyping is proven technique for designing systems for humans to use. It offered a foundation for us to collaborate with this group of monkeys and learn what appealed to them.”
The team’s paper, titled ‘Prototyping with Monkeys: Uncovering What Buttons for Monkeys Look Like’, is presented at the International Conference on Tangible Embedded and Embodied Interaction. The research was supported by funding from the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
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