The device is designed to recognise certain movements made by a pet and turn them into alerts or calls to the owner.
Could your dog soon call you on the phone? A “smartphone for pets” will let you call your furry friends.
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A technology company from Singapore has created a wearable device that it says allows pets to communicate with their owners.
The device, called PetPhone, was shown at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona by the firm uCloudlink.
The PetPhone works with artificial intelligence (AI), motion sensors and GPS. It is worn by the pet and connected to an app on the owner’s smartphone.
Through the app, owners can call the device to check on their pet, play music or send alerts. They can also see the animal’s location and activity using GPS and motion tracking.
The device is designed to recognise certain movements made by a pet and turn them into alerts or calls to the owner.
"We believe the pet can use the PetPhone for communication with the people, like a child,” said Jeff Chen, CEO and founder of uCloudlink.
For example, a dog could jump three times within six seconds, which would then prompt the device to call its owner. Other movements can be linked to different messages. A dog turning in a circle could trigger a notification through the app, letting the owner know that the pet is hungry or thirsty.
“That's the language we designed for pets and [the PetPhone] translate the pet motion to the people”.
Developers of PetPhone say the aim of the device is to move beyond simply watching pets through cameras and trackers and allow a form of communication.
“People are in the AI age and suddenly we realised our pets are still waiting for people to bring them to the AI age,” Chen said.
