Smart dog collar developed as fitness tracker for pets to monitor health
French firm Invoxia has built a dog collar capable of tracking Fido’s vital signs.
Inews reports that a biometric collar for dogs has been unveiled to monitor the animals’ vital signs and activities in the same way smartwatches and fitness trackers do for humans.
Invoxia’s Smart Dog Collar uses radar sensors and deep learning AI to read a dog’s continuous resting heart and respiratory rate even through thick fur, which the company claims is a world first.
The collar, designed to record every bark and cocked leg, relays information to a paired smartphone app, which collates data over time to make it easier to spot potentially serious health issues in older animals or to keep an eye on how they are responding to new medicine or recovering from surgery.
Heart disease is relatively common in dogs, particularly among pedigrees including the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Great Dane and Doberman, according to the animal charity PDSA.
“For dogs suffering from heart disease, structured home-based care programs that include continuous monitoring of respiratory and heart rate while attending to appetite and ideal body weight are encouraged,” said Romain Pariaut of the College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University. “A higher than normal resting respiratory rate is one of the most pertinent indicators of impending heart failure.”
As with other brands of smart collar, Invoxia users can track their pet’s whereabouts through GPS and receive alerts if their dog leaves predefined areas such as a garden.
If the dog goes missing, activating a “lost mode” boosts the refresh rate of the GPS tracker, meaning that it will provide a more accurate approximation of the animal’s location.
The collar, which is designed for medium and larger dogs and was put on show at CES, the world’s largest annual technology showcase in Las Vegas. It also monitors when its wearer has been walking, running, resting, scratching or barking, and its battery life lasts several weeks before needing recharging. It is expected to go on sale in the summer for around $99 (£73), plus an additional $12.99 a month to access GPS tracking.
Pet ownership in the UK skyrocketed during the pandemic after an estimated 3.2m people bought or adopted between March 2020 and March 2021, bringing the number of UK households with animals to a projected 59 per cent.
The pet technology market is also rapidly expanding, with analysts predicting its worth to pass $20bn by 2027, according to Global Market Insights.
(Story source: Inews)
