INUPATHY is the world’s first “dog mental visualizer”, allowing owners and dogs to have a better communication by showing your pet’s emotional state as a color on the light collar. It uses an algorithm to analyze heart rate patterns via sensors on the belt and expresses these through full-color LEDs on the back of the harness.
It also syncs with your phone so owners can log and keep track of how their dogs are feeling in real time. The dedicated app also suggests different games for the owner to play, based on the dog’s emotional state.
The name is a portmanteau of “insight” and “empathy”, and with a cheeky reference to the Japanese word for dog, inu. The harness can currently show if your dog is excited or relaxed, happy or concentrating.
Of course, the nature of the harness — in three colors — means that it won’t be suitable for all dog breeds and builds, but the dog in the video doesn’t seem to mind it at any rate.
Though announced last year, INUPATHY now has a working prototype and will be available for pre-order on on Indiegogo from March 4th. The designers are also be exhibiting it at the HACKist booth at SXSW from March 13th to March 16th. HACKist is the digital creative lab of Hakuhodo i-studio.
Keep an eye on Japan Trend Shop and its lineup of unique Japanese pet items if the product becomes widely available for international orders. For a slightly less hi-tech solution to a similar problem, you could also try the Bowlingual Dog Voice Translator.
The Internet of Things-inspired mobile pet trends are actually nothing new. For example, we previously saw Shiraseru Am, a smartphone-integrated wearable pet behavior and health monitoring device.
