Sunday 10 November 2013
Pets are great company to have, but they need looking after when you are away. That’s what the Raspberry Pi - powered open-source PetBot aims to do, never leaving your precious pooch alone.
While at work, on your commute or away for the weekend, the PetBot allows you to interact with your furry friend remotely using a remote controlled webcam, image recognition and treat dispenser.
The PetBot stands about the height of about six books, and is looking for $20,000 CAD in funding on Kickstarter, with a $150 CAD (£90) pledge securing a steel PetBot.
Open source and Pi powered
As the hardware is open source, the manufacturers will make everything you need to build your own PetBot freely available, including the detailed hardware designs, software source code, assembly instructions, and 3D printing schematics.The front-facing webcam uses image recognition to detect when your pet happens to be standing in front of the PetBot and will ping your phone. You can then control the movable camera via a phone app or the PetBot website to bring your animal friend into view.
From there you can interact with your pet, tell it to sit, play dead, reassure it that you haven’t left it forever, and then give it a treat to sustain it until your return.
It even has two separate treat dispensers within the box, which means two different sizes and types of treats can be fired out in response to your pet’s whining.
Why PetBot ?
People love their pets and will do almost anything for them, including spending large sums of money on fancy pet food and trips to the vet, which makes the $150 CAD expense of the PetBot seem a veritable bargain.It also means you should be able to leave your pet alone for longer periods without it starving, and bridges the connection gap between owner and furry friend.
For those that are looking for a way to keep in contact with their pets when out and about, the PetBot looks like the ideal hackable gadget.
