My daughters' dog doesn't like to bark unless she percieves an intruder.
When she wants something she will touch you with her paw to get your attention and then look at you intently. She uses certain eyebrow twitches, tightness of facial muscles and of course ear orientation to express herself.
Failure by her pack-humans to understand this language results in her leaving presents for us under the couch or right there at our feet depending on how badly she feels she's been slighted.
There have been occasions where she is lucky to be somewhat less than pan-fry size...

Enter gesture recognition technology.
An algorithm designed to sort and store patterns in the body movements of animals would eventually allow our canine buddies to have a voice.
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, May 29 2012

The visual cues of a dog may be minute, and undetectable by a camera of gesture recognition technology, especially if that camera is a little bit further away, as it is in the case of the "MS Kinetic" kind of device. However, you mentioned muscle twitches, etc. The patterns of muscle twitching may be detectable by subcutaneous implants, wouldn't they?
-- Inyuki, May 29 2012


//visual cues of a dog may be minute

A series of small pantographs, to amplify such cues.

Self-calibrating to point to signs saying "I really need to go outside now", "someone's about to lose a jugular vein", "a kid's fallen down a mineshaft" and.or "do you think replying to that email from a Nigerian prince is wise" or some such.
-- not_morrison_rm, May 30 2012


people (in my office) do this too, just more cagily. Another solution (from my office) is to pretend like you never understand the dog, and so never risk disappointing it. the dog will then bond with more reliable inanimate objects in the environment and exhibit a much more stable personality.
-- JesusHChrist, May 31 2012


People (in your office) crap under the couch?
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, May 31 2012


I think mostly it would simply say 'Come here go away! and 'Hey!'
-- RayfordSteele, May 31 2012


sheep!
-- pashute, Aug 21 2023


"Everyone loves me, you may scratch my ribs. Thank you."

"No, I haven't had dinner already; who told you that?"
-- pertinax, Aug 25 2023



random, halfbakery