A ROBOT dog that monitors your daily food intake and exercise levels and warns you not to eat that cheesecake could encourage people to stick to their diets.The health-conscious dog connects wirelessly to the dieter's pedometer and an electronic diary of their eating habits, to calculate their daily calorie intake and expenditure.Its US developers from MIT Media Lab hope the robot, a souped-up version of Sony's dog Aibo, could ultimately help in the fight against the western world's obesity epidemic.The system is being designed by Cynthia Breazeal at the MIT Media Lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who is famed for creating the emotional robot Kismet. It would use a pedometer, bathroom scales and a PDA connected by Bluetooth or Wi-Fi to gather information about weight, activity and eating habits that people generally have trouble calculating, remembering and reporting.A computer will then accurately analyse the data and present the results to the person through the friendly face of a robot, says Breazeal's student Cory Kidd, who is working with her to develop the system, which is still at an early stage.Past studies have shown that people who accurately record what they eat and how much they exercise are more likely to keep their weight down, and that a real 3D robot is more convincing than an on-screen character. A robot could also offer support that humans don't have the time, patience or desire to provide.Aibo does not talk. Instead he has been programmed to exhibit four different behaviours, representing lethargy, energy and two stages in between, in response to a verbal cue such as "How am I?""A robot could offer support that humans don't have the time to provide"The robot pet will choose his response to mirror how the person should be feeling. If you have stuck to your daily calories, he will jump up and down, wag his tail, play vibrant music and flash the brightly coloured LEDs that pepper his 50 centimetre-tall plastic body. But if you have already had too many, he will move slowly and lethargically and play low-energy music."It's promising to look at mobile robots for defining behavioural change," says Tim Bickmore, a computer scientist at the Boston University School of Medicine, who showed recently that an animated computer companion could encourage people to exercise more.Kidd will present the idea at the UbiComp conference on 11 September in Tokyo, Japan, and will begin a study on 30 overweight Bostonians next spring.Source: New Scientist
"New Brunswick is about to become the first province in Atlantic Canada to use a PET CT scanner for detecting different forms of cancer.PET, which stands for Positron Emission Tomography, is considered one of the best technologies for finding small tumours.It allows a physician to examine cells in the entire body, making it easier to pinpoint the source of the cancer and to track treatment.There are only 13 PET CT scanners currently in use across the country."Link
"A Brooke County woman aruged that she should get more than the appraised value of her late dog, which died after a 2001 hit-and-run accident.Story by The Associated PressSince Groucho wasn't a working farm animal, the owner of the dog killed in a hit-and-run accident should be eligible to recover damages."What next?Link
"Monkeys don't make good pets forever, April Truitt told a state legislative committee yesterday.'From birth to about age 5, they are cute, cuddly little animals,' said Truitt, founder of the Primate Rescue Center in Nicholasville.'But I have dealt with capuchin monkeys that get to be 30 years old, and these owners who paid $5,000 for them don't want them anymore. They're worthless.'"Link
"Roland Mumford sponsored the resolution to create the vicious dog committee, on the heels of a dog attack incident in Portland involving two girls. District 8 Commissioner Roland Mumford is the chairman of the vicious dog committee. Mumford will meet with Wike and others at 3 p.m. Friday at the county administration building to discuss these ideas.Summer Hunt, 7, was seriously injured when she was attacked by her grandmother’s pit bull in Portland on May 8.Summer’s 15-year-old sister, Angelia, was also injured while trying to get the dog away from her sister.Toni Hunt, the girls’ mother, said she would support any law designed to prevent others from experiencing the trauma her family has endured since her two daughters were attacked.“There needs to be strict rules on any dog that can hurt a human or (another dog), pit bulls, rotweillers, chows, even small dogs, but especially with larger dogs because of the damage they can do,” Hunt said.Mumford said owner responsibility would be a big focus of the committee."Link
Dog lovers in Britain have taken 2.7 million working days off to care for their sick pets over the last two years, according to a survey released Thursday.Ten percent of owners missed five days of work, with half of these taking up to two weeks off to look after their pets.But the best part of the news is:People in Britain are so concerned about their dogs’ well-being that 55 percent admitted they paid more attention to sick pets than an ill partner.I wonder if in future they will consider...
