For long ages our little fuzzies have suffered from the barbarism into which humanity has plunged them. Will CES 2019 fix it?
If you completely distance yourself from the so-called friendship of a person and his pet, look at the whole situation from the outside, then a bleak picture emerges. Judge for yourself – while a person is lying on a soft sofa and watching TV, his pet is forced to huddle on the rug and get bored. When a person uses a comfortable porcelain toilet, a cat, who is only to blame for the fact that it was not born in its era, is sentenced to the humiliating procedure of going to the tray, often in full view. A truly human solution to this issue would be a complete separation of the gifts of technological progress with our pets, and how much this is possible, CES 2019 will show us.
LavvieBot
The two most important things in the world that affect the mood of four-legged animals are the consumption of food and the subsequent release from it. And if everything is clear with the first, since a person himself eats with the help of a bowl, then with the second thing we observe a complete discrediting of the interests of the smaller brothers. All washrooms are designed and equipped to meet the needs of a human, a bipedal erect creature with a height of at least 1 m 20 cm. Let's imagine that a person is 30 cm tall, what happens then? We enter the hall, its ceiling is so high that it creates the effect of an open sky. In the middle of the hall there is a porcelain “font” with a diameter of 2 meters and at a height of 2 meters from the floor, into which the kind giant who feeds us suggests “to go”. Having pushed around and almost falling inside a couple of times, we agree to an alternative option – a sandbox in the corner of the hall. Humiliating, isn't it? Apparently, this was the reasoning of the creators of the automatic litter box for cats LavvieBot, who presented their creation at CES 2019.
Something similar to a washing machine, the unit independently changes the filler, and with the help of built-in scales and electronics, it performs a number of additional functions.
Among them – a report to the owner about events (mobile Internet + application in a smartphone) and intelligent data processing, on the basis of which the state of health of the four-legged epicure is monitored. If a cat is constipated and you don't notice it, LavvieBot will send a notification to the smartphone screen. The filler used for its intended purpose is sent to a garbage bag, which is easily removed from the pull-out container.
From the cat's point of view, the apparatus is normal, it provides a secluded place hidden from prying eyes and allows you to do without the help of the owner. But there is one 'but': as far as can be judged, the developers did not bother with the ramp for older cats.
However, with all due respect to the developers, the size of the intellectual contribution to the creation of LavvieBot is not that great, and there is no innovation in principle. Similar manipulations with autoloading filler and electronic scales appeared many years ago in 'smart' coffee machines and multicooker, a good engineer had only to correctly place the ready-made technologies and send the finished frame to the designer.
The LavvieBot project is at the startup stage and offers to knock off the first participants $ 200 USD from the unknown final price.
Pet cube 2
The idea of a baby monitor for pets is not new and has long been embodied in 'metal'. It is all the more interesting to follow the technical progress in this area, relying on the developments of the industry leader. After studying the material, I would like to add a 'baby monitor for rich dogs', but more on that below.
Remote tracking and control of a living creature in a confined space have been used for a long time. The technology began as a system for tracking state borders and the perimeter of secret facilities, monitoring prisoners in correctional facilities, monitoring sellers (primarily) and buyers to prevent theft of goods in trading floors. Sometimes it all takes on very ugly forms. An acquaintance of a security guard once said that the cameras in the premises guarded by his enterprise were directed not at the places of possible penetration of criminals, but at the security posts themselves. And immediately after the installation of surveillance cameras, persecutions began on labor collectives in the spirit of “why in a hat, why without a hat”, “you don't sit like that, you don't stand like that” and so on. Unlike canine chambers and feeders, humans take the bone, not give it. But back to our dogs.
The first generation of the device (Pet Cube Play $ 149 USD) is a webcam that has a built-in laser pointer with a mechanical drive and an Internet connection. Like any modern surveillance camera, the gadget wakes up from movement in the field of view of the lens and records what is happening on a remote server. Using the app for Android or iOS, the owner can drive his cat on the carpet and curtains with a laser 'bunny'. The second part of the complete kit is called Pet Cube Bites ($ 179 USD), in addition to the camera, it is equipped with a dispenser that, upon command from a smartphone, gives the pet a 'tasty'. Share hilarious 1080p photos and videos on a dedicated social network.
The second generation of devices is distinguished by smaller dimensions and more refined (according to official data) design, as well as modern electronic filling. More details of the differences will become known closer to the appearance of Pet Cube 2 on sale, which is scheduled for June-July 2019.
But the most interesting thing is how Pet Cube gets the main income, as it is obvious that $ 149 per camera is 'not enough'. First, the company is a dealer for Western pet products manufacturers Fresh Patch and Zippy Paws. And secondly, all captured video is initially stored on a remote server. The buyer of smart cameras can count on free video storage for 4 hours, and for everything above, you will have to pay according to the price list. And as a result, in a year it can result in a more substantial amount than the cost of the gadgets themselves. On the other hand, no one bothers to download video directly from the mobile application to the smartphone storage, and from there upload it to the cloud or to an external drive.
At least celebrities approve.
VAVA Mobile Pet Cam
The startup was spotted at CES 2019, which means it has become one step closer to implementation. Unlike the smart camera-communicator Pet Cube, the VAVA device is not equipped with a laser pointer, but it is equipped with caterpillars and a 'spawner' of sweets. The developers position him as a controller and an entertainer in the same building, which is clearly seen in the promo video:
The video is good, but VAVA itself is not very good. And the point is that the camera on caterpillars in this design is focused on a person, not an animal. And there are arguments for that – animals hardly perceive the LEDs on the front of the body as 'eyes', this is made for people, and a flimsy club with a brush attached to it cannot arouse the interest of any self-respecting cat. It seems that startups believe in human myths, but they themselves do not understand animals at all. Believe in myths from the category “mice love cheese”, while they ignore it, preferring cereals in any form. Or that the cat is such a fool that it is ready to run after any shaking thing, while it plays not with a brush, but with its owner-friend. Perhaps the calculation is made on the fact that the striped man will make friends with the robot in the hope of receiving a tasty reward, but, most likely, sooner or later he will understand who runs the entire theater, and will begin to remotely suck up or press for pity.
But if we put aside these controversial moments, then we have a mobile communicator with the help of which the owner can always find a pet and even talk to him while away from home. Probably, only for the sake of this VAVA will be bought when the developers sell the $ 52,953 USD received from the population (180% of what they asked for).
WAGZ ™ GO SMART DOOR
Another pet gadget startup Wagz has come up with a simple (but expensive) solution to the problem of walking pets on their own. It's no secret that in small towns, and even more so in settlements of the village type, pets walk by themselves. They huddle in flocks, squeeze territories from neighbors and enjoy life in other ways. The only injured party (a partially bitten off ear is not considered a problem) at this celebration of life are the owners, who are required to open the door at different times of the day. Just open the door, but sometimes you have to get up at 5 in the morning for this (or I won't stop whining), which interferes with sleep a little. To solve this problem, 'micro-doors' are traditionally used in the array of an entrance door or wicket in the form of a spring-loaded hatch or just a hole. But in this case, sooner or later some cat will climb into your yard and steal your food, for example, a fish hung up for drying.
The solution to the 'dog question' came, as in all other cases, from the human world. SMART DOOR from Wagz is designed as a vertical hatch and is equipped with a magnetic lock.
The hatch opens only to the owner of the EXPLORE SMART COLLAR.
The collar will cost USD 495, and the smart hatch will cost USD 549, for a total of USD 1,044. It is difficult to judge whether it is expensive or not, because the collar itself, in terms of technical complexity, is analogous to a smartphone. Through the mobile application, you can track your pet using GPS satellites, and through the camera built into the collar, you can see the same thing. The motor and ultrasonic speaker integrated into the collar allow you to walk the dog without a physical leash, imitating its work, and with the help of specialized software the collar turns into a kind of fitness bracelet and monitors the wearer's activity. Completing the vinaigrette of technologies is the ability to set an arbitrary 'safety zone' in Google maps, leaving which the dog will begin to suffer from ultrasound and vibration.
Shown at CES, Wagz devices will go on sale in late May – early June 2019, but for now, let me ask you a question. Isn't it cheaper to teach a human friend to open and close the latch of the door himself? What do you think? What should be a smart collar for a cat so that he cannot get rid of it in the nearest alley with the help saws and files muscular hind legs?
Thoughts
Despite all the pet-care claims of manufacturers, the main beneficiary of buying gadgets for pets is their human owner. A snitching robot on tracks and a collar restricting freedom are prime examples of this. Why is a smart camera with a laser toy for a cat being made 'more sophisticated' for humans than for a cat? It should also be noted that all these 'new' technologies are deeply secondary, a hodgepodge of smartphones, smart kettles and other trackers. And doesn't it bother you, friends, that humanity has swung at artificial intelligence, while it is not even able to create a working electronic translator from a cat? I suggest expressing agreement or indignation in the comments.