Did ever wonder how your cat or dog is being treated when you board it? Pete Cross decided to answer that question with technology.
He created the PetInspect gadget, which records data on how a pet is being treated while it is boarded. The data-logger and wireless communications device lets you track your pet's environment -- hot or cold -- and whether the pet is getting exercise. This gadget consists of a 16-bit microcontroller with 256K of flash memory and sensors for pressure, temperature, activity, light, and proximity.
Pete Cross' cat Elmo shows off the PetInspect, a data-logger and wireless communications device that lets you discover what environment your pet experiences and how it behaves while you're not around.
The PCB has dedicated power and ground planes on each board. The electronics package, including batteries, fits into a cylinder 28mm (1.1 inches) in diameter and 23mm (0.9 inches) in length.
The editors of Design News have handpicked your favorite Gadget Freak cases from over the years, bringing them together in a dynamic digital edition, complete with videos, which you can view here.
It doesn't look like it. I've use the 'Loc8tor' for keeping track of my cats and dogs. It provides directional (arrows) as well as distance (sound) information up to about 600'. The same company has other products that work from further distances, but not as precise.
For tracking devices, the genre falls into LBS, or Location-Based-Services. LBS devices generally have some type of transceiver (I've developed many; from GPS to WAN-cellular, to RFID and even ZigBee protocols), and then the big kicker: a significant battery for the transceiver. All this adds up to a relatively larger volume than what is depicted in this device shown, which I liken more to a collection of sensory collectors.
I agree cool project. My Mom's cat will not wear a collar either. My Dad use to put a collar with a bell on him but he always found a way to take it off.
My way of presenting the data in that article was quite boring. I imagine there are better ways to express the sensory data than being limited to lines on a time-series graph.
Here is a kind of time-series pie chart that looks cool. http://richworks.in/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/1110.jpg In the case of PetInspect, each ring could represent a day, and each section of the ring, a type of activity level: sleeping, mild activity, running around.
Have you considered a fundraising site such as Kickstarter? Quite a few great concepts like yours have been brought into being through community donations.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 5
Early in my career, I worked as a draftsman and remember the days of drawing on vellum with numbered pencils and Mylar with plastic lead. This was a fun experience in the sense that I ...
I've been using workstations for more than 10 years and love finding ways to get more performance from my system. With demanding professional applications that require more power each ...
A lasting memory from my first job as an engineer in an auto assembly plant is standing on hard concrete at six in the morning, vending-machine coffee clutched in hand, listening to ...
A quick look into the merger of two powerhouse 3D printing OEMs and the new leader in rapid prototyping solutions, Stratasys. The industrial revolution is now led by 3D printing and engineers are given the opportunity to fully maximize their design capabilities, reduce their time-to-market and functionally test prototypes cheaper, faster and easier. Bruce Bradshaw, Director of Marketing in North America, will explore the large product offering and variety of materials that will help CAD designers articulate their product design with actual, physical prototypes. This broadcast will dive deep into technical information including application specific stories from real world customers and their experiences with 3D printing. 3D Printing is
To save this item to your list of favorite Design News content so you can find it later in your Profile page, click the "Save It" button next to the item.
If you found this interesting or useful, please use the links to the services below to share it with other readers. You will need a free account with each service to share an item via that service.
Tweet This
3 
