Creating an Evaluation System for Future Guide Dogs: A Case Study of Designing for Both Human and Canine Needs

It is incredibly expensive to breed, train, and place a working guide dog; costs are tens of thousands of dollars for many organizations. During this training process, approximately 40% of canines are dropped due to medical, behavioral, or other reasons. Since guide dog schools do not have unlimited resources, they must focus on the most promising candidates so they can maximize resources to meet the growing need for guide dogs. Staff at some schools use evaluations to predict how successful a dog will be in the program. While current processes have achieved some positive results, they are highly-subjective, and rely on people with years of experience and knowledge. As a major first step towards an objective evaluation, we developed a system for a human operator to annotate canine behavior while simultaneously collecting physiological and accelerometer data. In collaboration with Guiding Eyes for the Blind, we designed the system from the ground up to meet the needs of both canine and human users.