A cat feeder that uses facial recognition technology will allow cat owners to “smartly” monitor the appetite of their furry friends any time and anywhere, a Taiwanese design team said on Wednesday.
The device, called Bistro, has two major parts — a food dispenser and a scale, said Hannah Chen, a spokeswoman for 42Ark, which designed the device.
When a cat steps on a Bistro, a built-in camera is activated and streams video to a back-end server, which runs a facial recognition algorithm to identify the cat, Chen said.
As the cat is eating, weight sensors beneath the dispenser and the scale continuously monitor the weight of the cat, the food and water, she said. After the cat steps off, the system calculates the amounts of food and water the cat has consumed, as well as its weight, she added.
The information is then sent to the owner’s smartphone via an app so that they can easily review their cat or cats’ diet history and health, Chen said.
Users can decide how many meals they want their cats to eat per day and Bistro will automatically calculate and dispense the correct amount of food for each meal, she said.
The device, which is to be priced at about US$250, is not yet available on the market.
The company is trying to raise US$100,000 through crowdfunding on Indiegogo and said that if it can raise that amount within a month, the first shipment of Bistros will be delivered in February next year.
The team raised nearly US$32,000 within 12 hours of posting the campaign on Indiegogo’s Web site.
“We’re quite confident of reaching our goal within the time limit,” Chen said, adding that her team was surprised and happy to see so much interest from around the world in 42Ark’s first product.
Chen said 42Ark plans to work on other pet-related high-technology devices.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as