The Challenge
People who suffer from social isolation suffer from mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, and loneliness. They may also face psychosomatic or physiological issues, such as a weakened immune system and a heightened risk of coronary heart disease. Social interaction and attachment is a fundamental part of human existence, and the lack of such attachment causes our bodies to malfunction. Not only is this an issue in the current Covid-19 pandemic, but it will become an issue in long-haul space flights, when humans have limited interaction with the outside world while navigating celestial travel.
During these celestial voyages, personnel are subject to periods of intense work alternating with drawn-out boredom, as NASA explained in their video on the 'Hazards of Human Spaceflight'. With nothing to focus on, and little interaction to begin with, people are vulnerable to mental health issues, including many of those listed above.
Thankfully, there is a solution. Research has shown that keeping a pet elevates our dopamine levels and interacting with pets decreases our anxious and depressive moods. In a study on the impact of pets on aging adults who were isolated in old age, Hughes et. al (2019) found that companion animals have a positive impact and influence on the mental well-being of isolated persons. While this may seem commonsensical, we would realize the importance of companionship only in times when our social interactions with others cannot be taken for granted. In times such as the Covid-19 pandemic, we are all in need of more companionship, whether from others or from pets.
Other studies have also replicated the findings. These studies referenced here may be found at: http://spacedoggolabs.web.app, an interactive visualization tool that we created to show the impact of keeping a pet on our mental and physical health, both in and out of social isolation.
Other issues
"But we can't bring pets to space!" That is very true. Bringing on board an animal that is not trained may pose safety and security issues for spaceflight personnel. Additionally, these animals in space also impose a burden on the critical resources, such as food and oxygen, in space shuttles. It would therefore seem that bringing a dog or a cat - or a parrot, for that matter - may not be such a great idea.
The Solution: our Space Doggo!
With advancements in technology such as artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics, we are now able to create believably "live" pets that can evoke similar forms of attachment from human beings. These forms of attachment are equivalent, or in the least approximate, forms of attachment that we have with live pets or companion animals. They are essential for our well-being.
Our solution proposes the manufacturing of a believable, but yet artificial, robot that is programmed to learn about its owner and to engage with it. It includes features such as:
In this manner, we are able to achieve both aims: first, to reduce social isolation by connecting people with others virtually through a platform, and second, to allow people to develop a form of attachment for the companion robot through interaction.
The Uncanny Valley
Every roboticist faces the problem of the Uncanny Valley: when a robot is pseudo-realistic, our natural response is one of disgust. However, if we know that a robot is fully a robot, through its interface (such as its physical features), we tend to accept it without a hitch. Thus, a robot must either be a robot or it must truly be the thing that it represents. Any form or representation in between that will throw the robot into the territory of the uncanny valley, in the nightmares of humans. To avoid this, we specifically designed the features of our robot to be either very realistic, or very robotic.
Conclusion
Through the Space Doggo, we are able to integrate the technology with psychology to promote mental and physical well-being. While social isolation is a problem that many people will face, either currently or in the future, we believe that our solution will be able to provide the companionship for such people.
Inspiration
First, we were inspired to choose this challenge because of the current, ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. We live in cities that are still under lockdown measures, which meant that for the most part of the day, we were confined to our own rooms or homes with little to no outside interaction with other people. In other words, we experienced the effects of social isolation first hand and we wanted to do something about it.
Second, as space enthusiasts, we were well-aware of the problems associated with long-haul space travel or space missions. In such situations social isolation is the norm. It was therefore natural to merge our two interests in space and our current experience to work on this project.
Developing the project
We set about to identify the causes of social isolation first. This involved not just seeking data from NASA, but also from other open data platforms, such as the World Bank, United Nations, and Our World in Data. From this, we read through the reports and case studies. Then, we created a visualisation tool, which matched the effects of social isolation with potential solutions. This visualisation may be found at http://spacedoggolabs.web.app. During our research we identified three important solutions to social isolation:
We reasoned that the first two solutions could be implemented without the help of technology. However, the last solution of keeping a pet may be an issue for some because:
Furthermore, we were encouraged by NASA's Human Research Programme, which showed that even working in small teams kept social isolation at bay. We then thought of a robot pet and a human being as a "team", and brainstormed on ideas of how to implement a robot pet.
Finally, we also did research on the benefits of each of the potential solutions. It was found that exercise and keeping a pet had the greatest number of benefits and solved the majority of mental health issues relating to social isolation issues. We thus concluded that a robot pet would be the best way forward.
Coding tools and libraries
For prototyping the app interface, we relied on Adobe Photoshop. For the visualisation, we relied on client-side JavaScript and the d3.js library to construct the visualisation tool.
Space agency data
For the ideation phase, we relied heavily on the research that was conducted at NASA's Human Research Programme. We also relied on reported information from sources such as JAXA.
For information on the psychological impact of social isolation, we took reference from the clinical studies mentioned above.
Problems and achievements
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1JesFfNN8vuQyuoHCAxQU5NQFrD6BhhTkp8UtTdcMACk/edit?usp=sharing
Other resources