Proposal Evaluation Form

4 CONSIGLIO NAZIONALE DELLE RICERCHE IT 363,166 11.80% 363,166 11.80% 5 IT University of Copenhagen DK 426,026 13.84% 426,026 13.84% 6 FUNDACIO INSTITUT GUTTMANN ES 109,226 3.55% 109,226 3.55% Total: 3,077,645 3,077,645 Abstract: Our societies are sustained by the interaction of mutually dependent individuals who must balance their own needs with those of the collective. Societies, by virtue of their dynamic nature, change, thus creating new challenges and opportunities for optimizing interactions among its members. This project introduces the groundbreaking notion of an operational Collective Mind (CM): the mind of a group of intelligent beings (biological & artificial) that learns and reasons about the needs of the individuals and the collective, and acts proactively to enhance collective wellbeing. Collective Mind differs from collective intelligence that is based on collaboration & coordination, where group decision is based on an aggregation of individuals. Instead, it follows a cognitive approach that considers the collective as a whole. In a sense, it builds on collective consciousness and collective intentionality, which have been studied in philosophy and social sciences but neglected until now by artificial intelligence. We will define and build the conceptual and computational CM model with its learning, reasoning, and planning modules, as well as the necessary hardware (dog's harness, robotic wheelchair) required to implement it to three cases on the healthcare of disabled people and their dogs. The first case focuses on how dogs interact with technology and how the CM uses the dog to address the owner's needs. The second uses a robotic wheelchair facilitating the person's mobility and a dog harness sensing the dog's state and communicating with it, and the CM is used to aid the disabled person in various daily activities, paying special attention to the dog's welfare. The third uses the CM to optimise search & navigation tasks in which the robotic chair, dog and human work as a team. The prototypes underscore this project's social and technological impact on human and animal well-being (elderly, disabled, guide dogs), dog training, wheel-chair development and App development