"IoT for Puppies" and AI Help Identify Guide Dog Trainees with the Right Stuff
From: Enterprise Tech - 08/12/2017
By: Doug Black

Guiding Eyes has teamed with IBM and researchers at San Jose State University
in what may be one of the most unusual workloads assigned to its Watson
supercomputer: using data to improve selection of puppies for service
training, with the goal of increasing service dog graduation rates.

Guiding Eyes and its Canine Development Center (CDC) works to identify
preferred service dog qualities, such as health, confidence, love and
temperament. This has meant the accumulation of dog data, lots of it. Through
16 generations of selective breeding, the CDC has captured both structured
data - such as medical records and complex genetic mapping - and unstructured
data from questionnaires provided by trainers and host families – called
“raisers” – about their impressions and experiences with the dogs.

Using Watson's Natural Language Classifier, Personality Insights and other
services, Guiding Eyes analyzed data regarding genetic, health and behavior
data spanning from birth through training for 1,200 dogs. The organizations
reported that the Watson analysis predicted - with algorithms developed by
data scientists at San Jose State - with 100 percent accuracy which volunteer
"puppy raiser+dog" teams would be successful in developing training program
graduates based on socialization, raiser environments, the genetic
backgrounds of the puppies and the skills of the puppy raiser.

Read the entire article at:
https://www.enterprisetech.com/2017/08/12/iot-puppies-ai-help-identify-guide-dog-trainees-right-stuff

Links:
Guiding Eyes for the Blind
https://www.guidingeyes.org/ways-to-help

Guiding Eyes for the Blind's Canine Development Center
https://www.guidingeyes.org/prospective-students/student-experience/at-the-school/campuses-tour

Leader Dog's Canine Development Center
http://www.leaderdog.org/canine-center
http://www.leaderdog.org/canine-development-center