No matter how sophisticated, how advanced, how intelligent the robot was, it could never have the empathetic, emotional response to a dog and its needs that a human has, so itās a Heck No from me, too.
Thereās something extremely sad about the thought of a dog, excitedly wagging its tail, barking, waiting for a machine thatās completely indifferent to its emotional state, to throw a ball, a frisbee or a Safe Stick for it. Or for enthusiastically recalling, sprinting back to a machine which tells it āGood Dogā and dispensing a treat with about as much emotion and enthusiasm as it would use for forecasting the weather.
Nor would a robot be able to gauge the value of the act the dog has done. Different responses from a dog or the same act at different stages in the dogās training should garner different reactions. For example;
Doing its business outside as a house-trained dog? Meh, low value treat or Good Dog.
Doing its business outside for the first time as a puppy? You throw that dog a Graduation party.
A machine canāt tell the difference and canāt feel the necessary emotion to get it right. To the machine, both āactsā are the same and require the same response. A human will know - will feel - the difference and their response will (or should) be in line with the dogās current level of house training.
And getting a machine to walk the dog so you (global You, not you personally) can have another hour in bed?! Thatās the height of laziness! Anyone who decides to buy a robot just so they can have another hour in bed doesnāt deserve a dog in my opinion.
I do like the idea of a machine cleaning up the accidents in the house though. One which could empty the catās litter box and/or entertain him while I walk the dogs, that would be something Iād consider.
But walking or feeding the dog(s)?
Nah, not for me.
That said, I wouldnāt say there isnāt a market for this sort of thing, just like thereās a market for clipping the dogās leash to a fancy clothes line so the dog can get āexerciseā while the ownerās at work/busy doing other thingsā¦ And as a forum, thatās another thing we would strongly advise against.
Thereās something extremely sad about the thought of a dog, excitedly wagging its tail, barking, waiting for a machine thatās completely indifferent to its emotional state, to throw a ball, a frisbee or a Safe Stick for it. Or for enthusiastically recalling, sprinting back to a machine which tells it āGood Dogā and dispensing a treat with about as much emotion and enthusiasm as it would use for forecasting the weather.
Nor would a robot be able to gauge the value of the act the dog has done. Different responses from a dog or the same act at different stages in the dogās training should garner different reactions. For example;
Doing its business outside as a house-trained dog? Meh, low value treat or Good Dog.
Doing its business outside for the first time as a puppy? You throw that dog a Graduation party.
A machine canāt tell the difference and canāt feel the necessary emotion to get it right. To the machine, both āactsā are the same and require the same response. A human will know - will feel - the difference and their response will (or should) be in line with the dogās current level of house training.
And getting a machine to walk the dog so you (global You, not you personally) can have another hour in bed?! Thatās the height of laziness! Anyone who decides to buy a robot just so they can have another hour in bed doesnāt deserve a dog in my opinion.
I do like the idea of a machine cleaning up the accidents in the house though. One which could empty the catās litter box and/or entertain him while I walk the dogs, that would be something Iād consider.
But walking or feeding the dog(s)?
Nah, not for me.
That said, I wouldnāt say there isnāt a market for this sort of thing, just like thereās a market for clipping the dogās leash to a fancy clothes line so the dog can get āexerciseā while the ownerās at work/busy doing other thingsā¦ And as a forum, thatās another thing we would strongly advise against.
