Animal-to-robot social attachment: initial requisites in a gallinaceous bird

Abstract

Animal-Robot Interaction experiments have demonstrated their usefulness to understand the social behaviour of a growing number of animal species. In order to study the mechanisms of social influences (from parents and peers) on behavioural development, we design an experimental setup where young quail chicks, after hatching, continuously live with autonomous mobile robots in mixed triadic groups of two chicks and one robot. As precocial birds are subject to imprinting, we compare groups where chicks meet the robot as their very first social partner, on their first day after hatching (R chicks), with groups where chicks meet a real conspecific first (C chicks), and the robot later (on the second day after hatching). We measured the behavioural synchronization between chicks and robot over three days. Afterwards, we directly tested the existence of a possible social bond between animal and robot, by performing separation-reunion behavioural tests. R chicks were more synchronized with the robot in their daily feeding-resting activities than C chicks. Moreover, R chicks emitted numerous distress calls when separated from the robot, even in the presence of another chick, whereas C chicks emitted calls only when separated from the other chick. Whether the observed chick-robot attachment bond reflects filial, or sibling-imprinting of chicks towards the robot remains unclear, as the latter process is not fully understood in natural familial groups. Still, these results reveal the necessary initial conditions for stable, cohesive mixed groups of chicks and robots, a promising tool to experiment on the long-term dynamics of social behaviour.

Closed-loop control of zebrafish behaviour in three dimensions using a robotic stimulus

“…Robotic models have been utilized to examine the role of visual and chemical cues involved in the honeybee ( Apis mellifera ) dance communication system 13 , 14 . Several studies on birds have been made possible using robotics, ranging from research on the courtship of male satin bowerbirds ( Ptilonorhynchus violaceus ) 15 , to the analysis of attachment bonds and spatial exploration in chicks of quails ( Coturnix coturnix japonica ) 16 , 17 . Robotic fish have been implemented in several behavioural assays, on social fish species including zebrafish ( Danio rerio ) 7 , bluefin killifish ( Lucania goodei ) 18 , giant danios ( Devario aequipinnatus ) 19 , golden shiners ( Notemigonus crysoleucas ) 20 – 22 , trunkfish ( Mormyrus rume ) 23 , mosquitofish ( Gambusia affinis ) 24 , mackerels ( Scomber scombrus ) 25 , Siamese fighting fish ( Betta splendens ) 26 three-spined sticklebacks ( Gasterosteus aculeatus ) 27 , 28 .…”

Multiple cues produced by a robotic fish modulate aggressive behaviour in Siamese fighting fishes

“…Biomimetic robotic devices were successfully used to interact with several animal species. A number of studies used robots to evoke social interactions in several species, such as Periplaneta americana (Linnaeus) 8 , Apis mellifera ligustica (Spinola) 10–12 Gryllus bimaculatus (De Geer) 1 , chicks, including Gallus gallus domesticus (Linnaeus), and Coturnix coturnix japonica (Temminck & Schlegel) 13, 14 , Rattus norvegicus (Berkenhout) 15–17 . Robotic models were used to attract individuals or small shoals in fishes such as Danio rerio (Hamilton) 18–25 , Poecilia reticulata (Peters) 9, 26 , Gambusia affinis (Baird & Girard) 27, 28 , Mormyrus rume (Valenciennes) 29, 30 , Lucania goodei (Jordan) 21, 31 , Notemigonus crysoleucas (Mitchill) 32 , and Gasterosteus aculeatus (Linnaeus) 33, 34 .…”

“…Robotic models were used to attract individuals or small shoals in fishes such as Danio rerio (Hamilton) 18–25 , Poecilia reticulata (Peters) 9, 26 , Gambusia affinis (Baird & Girard) 27, 28 , Mormyrus rume (Valenciennes) 29, 30 , Lucania goodei (Jordan) 21, 31 , Notemigonus crysoleucas (Mitchill) 32 , and Gasterosteus aculeatus (Linnaeus) 33, 34 . Also, interactive robots can play a pivotal role for further progress in investigating high flexible and complex behaviours such as agonistic displays 4, 35 , however most of the studies relating to animal-robot interactions was devoted to survey group and collective behaviours 4, 8, 12, 14, 22, 23, 33 . Regarding aggressive behaviour, except for a few examples using biomimetic artefacts to evoke intraspecific aggressive response in the dart-poison frog, Epipedobates femoralis (Barbour), and in swamp sparrows, Melospiza georgiana (Latham) 35, 36 , as well as anxiety-related behaviour in zebrafish when exposed to predator-mimicking robots 37, 38 , agonistic interactions are almost unexplored by the biomimetic approach.…”

How different is a 3D‐printed replica from a conspecific in the eyes of a zebrafish?

“…Over the years, a range of biologically‐inspired robots have been developed to selectively mimic behavioral and morpho‐physiological features of different animal species and elicit desired reactions. For instance, the use of robotics has been successfully demonstrated in research on insects (cockroaches: Halloy et al, ; & honeybees: Landgraf, Moballegh, & Rojas, ; Michelsen, Andersen, Storm, Kirchner, & Lindauer, ); birds (European starling, brown‐headed cowbird, & house finch: Fernández‐Juricic & Kowalski, ; satin bowerbirds: Patricelli, Uy, Walsh, & Borgia, ; & quails: De Margerie, Lumineau, Houdelier, & Yris, ; Jolly et al, ); reptiles (brown anolis: Partan, Otovic, Price, & Brown, ; Graham's anolis: Macedonia, Clark, Riley, & Kemp, ; & Iberian wall lizard: Carazo, Font, & Desfilis, ); mammals (dogs: Kubinyi et al, ; & squirrels: Partan, Larco, & Owens, ); and several fish species (bluefin killifish: Phamduy, Polverino, Fuller, & Porfiri, ; giant danios: Aureli & Porfiri, ; golden shiners: Abaid, Marras, Fitzgibbons, & Porfiri, ; Marras & Porfiri, ; Polverino, Phamduy, & Porfiri, ; Swain, Couzin, & Leonard, ; guppies: Landgraf et al, ; Landgraf et al, ; mosquitofish: Polverino & Porfiri, ; & three‐spined sticklebacks: Faria et al, ; Ward, Sumpter, Couzin, Hart, & Krause, ).…”