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South Korean startup Petpuls Lab has released an AI dog collar that has the ability to "can detect five emotions in canines by monitoring their barks using voice recognition technology."
Owners can download a smartphone application that will let them know whether the canine is happy, relaxed, sad, angry, or anxious based on barks that are then analyzed using the collar's unique technology.
"This device gives a dog a voice so that humans can understand," said Andrew Gil, director of global marketing at Petpuls Lab. The collar can also measure your dog's physical activity.
In order to create the collar, Petpuls Lab gathered and analyzed a number of dog breeds for three years, collecting over 10,000 samples across 50 different breeds. This information was used to develop an algorithm that can determine the emotion behind a dog's bark with 90% accuracy.
The collar went on sale in October 2020 for $99; Petpuls Lab hopes that the device will be able to strengthen the bond between dog and owner, especially given how many individuals have become pet owners throughout the pandemic.
Although the collar is an incredible feat of technology, it isn't the first of its kind—last year, a former Amazon engineer released an app called MeowTalk, which is able to translate cat vocalizations into English.