Read Your Pet's Mind

If you could read your furkid’s mind instead of guessing its thoughts and feelings, would you? It was never really a possibility for paw-rents until now–with the new Anicall device, you can get in touch with your pet's emotions!
Pets Team 18 January 2016

Based in Tokyo, a pet wearables venture company, Anicall, recently launched a crowdfunding campaign on Makuake to garner support for its new device that promises to read your pet's emotions and transmit the information to your smartphone via an app. For paw-rents who find it difficult to understand their furkids, this may come as a godsend.

Although this device isn't exactly a doggy-to-human language translator (which will probably need many more years and a huge improvement in animal technology), it is by far the closest we can get to connect on a deeper level with our furry friends. The wearable device comes in the form of a collar for Puss and a harness for Fido, and purportedly reads their emotions and thoughts.


(image credit: blog.wsj.com)

Called a Shiraseru Am–literally translated to mean “notifier”—the device uses an array of sensors to measure your furkid's motion, heart rate and temperature, amongst others, to judge your furkid's mood and intent. This information will automatically be uploaded into a cloud database where an artificial intelligence-based software will analyse the information and make a guess on how your furkid is feeling.


(image credit: en.rocketnews24.com)

The team at Anicall (consisting of neuroethologic scientists) have been studying many cats and dogs to verify the behavioural data that they will be basing their analyses upon. However, unless we do find a way to break down the communication barrier between human and animal, everything known or discovered by humans about our furry friends' behaviour is still largely speculative. Can we even be sure that a tail wag means that it is happy?


(image credit: en.rocketnews24.com)

That said, even if the Shiraseru Am doesn't fulfill its main goal of understanding your pet's emotions, it's still a pretty nifty gadget that helps to measure your furkid's temperature to avoid heat exhaustion, analyse its calorie intake and loss, as well as keep track of its movements. So yes–it wouldn't be a complete waste of your money investing in one of these.

Pre-orders for the device have already started on their crowdfunding website, but we suggest waiting for the official launch to ensure that any teething troubles have been rectified. While the Shiraseru Am does feel like a big step forward in the animal technology world, we were a tad disappointed at their official video. Perhaps we got our hopes up too high? You decide.