A Cornell University student created a wearable perch for her hand. Her pet parakeet, Shiso, helped design it. Nanyi Jiang, a doctoral student, worked with her ring-necked parakeet to make the NomadicPerch.
This felted wearable turns a human hand into a mobile perch. Jiang shared the project at a conference in Singapore in June 2026.
How Shiso Shaped the Design
The idea came from Jiang's daily time with Shiso. "She always likes to stand on different parts of my body," Jiang said. "I feel like sometimes she uses me like a tree." Instead of giving Shiso a finished product, Jiang built prototypes. She let Shiso's reactions guide each new version.
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Start Your News DetoxJiang tested different materials, shapes, and colors. She kept changing the design until Shiso consistently liked one.
The design process involved many steps. Jiang showed Shiso one prototype at a time. She watched where Shiso perched, how long she stayed, and what she did. Shiso's behavior, not Jiang's own ideas, drove the design. The final product is a hand-worn felt wearable. Its shape and size are based on what Shiso chose most often.
Shiso couldn't speak, but she showed her preferences clearly through her actions. Parakeets communicate comfort and discomfort with their posture, movements, and sounds. Jiang treated these signals like verbal feedback from a human in a design session.
A New Way to Design with Animals
Most animal-technology research works differently. Designers usually build a product first. Then, animals test it. Their feedback might help with future versions, but animals are not involved in the early ideas.
NomadicPerch changed this. Shiso was part of the process from the prototype stage. She participated before any design was complete.
The Cornell Chronicle noted that past efforts used animals to test final products. They were not collaborators in the design process.
This project is part of Animal-Computer Interaction. This field uses human-centered design methods for systems made for or with animals. Malte Jung, a Cornell professor, advised the work. Researchers in this field believe birds have natural building skills from making nests. This makes them good collaborators.
The Bigger Picture
Jiang hopes this project inspires other technologists. She wants them to design with animals, not just for them. She also wants them to think more about the relationships between humans, animals, and technology.
Designing for animals means their needs are considered later. Designing with them means their needs are part of the process from the start. NomadicPerch is a small item. But it raises a big question: when a non-human will use technology, when should their preferences matter in the design?
