‘Could robot pets ever replace real thing?’, asks new RSPCA podcast featuring Portsmouth researcher

The first episode of the RSPCA’s Animal Futures podcast delves into the high-tech world of robot pets, and whether they could ever replace our much-loved animal companions.

Host Kate Quilton interviews Dr Leanne Proops, Associate Professor in Animal Behaviour and Welfare at the University of Portsmouth, and CEO and founder of Ageless Innovation, Ted Fischer, who makes interactive robot pets.

The conversation discusses how robot pets are tackling loneliness and isolation for older people, easing dementia symptoms and how they can have a role in therapy. The episode considers if they could also help improve animal welfare and if we are likely to see them play a bigger part in society as technology advances.

During the episode, Dr Proops, from the University’s School of Psychology, Sport and Health Sciences, explains how she carried out research with children to see if younger people preferred a robot pet or a real one.

Explaining their belief that robot pets, for most of us, will not replace the real thing, she said: “We are very able to distinguish between animate and inanimate objects so I think there will be separate roles for [robot pets] in society.

“I think there are many contexts where animals are not being kept in the best conditions, so perhaps it’s not a bad thing that a few less pet dogs are in society and being replaced if it means less dogs are kept in poor conditions. So if robot pets are used in that context that might be no bad thing for the animals themselves.”

Dr Proops also questions whether in 50 years time we might be asking a different question about robot pets - will they become sentient and will that mean they need to be protected like our real ones?

She added: “It’s a debate that people are having around AI generally: when will we know that it’s feeling things? We then have a moral obligation to treat it ethically. So we may be in that position where we’re actually asking what are the ethics of robot pets rather than replacing real pets.”

The episode is being released as part of RSPCA Animal Futures: the Big Conversation which is asking everyone in the UK to get involved and have their say about the future they want to see for animals in 2050.

Gemma Hope, RSPCA Assistant Director of Policy, Advocacy and Evidence, said: “Robot pets is a really fascinating topic. While many of us at the RSPCA and our supporters couldn’t imagine replacing our much-loved pets with a robot, our research shows more than one in four (26%) would consider it.

“In this episode, we hear how in some settings, like care homes or therapy, robot pets are bringing amazing benefits. But as more robot pets are coming on the market this year, and with AI likely to make them more realistic, we are also exploring what impact this could have on our relationship with animals - both good and bad.”

The episode is the first in a series of six released in February and March. Guests include David Halpern MBE, President Emeritus of the Behavioural Insights Team; Melanie Challenger, bioethicist, and author of ‘How to be Animal’, and environmentalist and author Dr Mya-Rose Craig.

More information on the podcast is available on the RSPCA website: www.rspca.org.uk/whatwedo/latest/animalfutures