The Intersection of Computer Science and the Animal World

Abstract

Computer Science is helping create beneficial change in the animal world. The field of ACI aims to improve on technologies that interact with animals by designing for and with the animal user. By taking a user-centered design approach, ACI ensures that the technologies being created benefit the animal’s needs and health while accounting for their natural environment and tendencies. Certain animal technologies, including those I mentioned earlier and the one I propose, can help improve animal health by providing real time information. The crossing of technology and veterinary practice has made diagnosing illnesses and analyzing animal patient information much easier for the veterinary world. Robotic animals have made situations where there are issues of animal welfare easier to avoid. Though robotic animals don’t come without their own set of ethical challenges, introducing a robotic pet into a necessary situation can alleviate the stress sometimes experienced from and by a live animal. The fields of ACI, animal technology, and robotic animals should continue to be developed and researched so as to continue enhancing the lives of animals. You may have considered the intersection of computer science and the animal world a non-existent or minimally important topic before, but together, Computer Science and the animal world have and continue to make significant change for the betterment of animals and their treatment.