There are few pleasures that can match the simple thrill of playing with a cat and a laser pointer. Soon, thanks to a Ukrainian startup, you'll not only be able to infuriate your pet remotely, even when you're at work, but you'll also be able to play with other people's pets.
Introducing the Petcube, a simple but stylish home gadget that will soon become the sworn enemy of the animal kingdom.
Inside a 10x10x10cm aluminium and glass box will be a wide-angle camera, a microphone and speakers -- so you can summon your pet -- and, vitally, a moveable low-intensity laser. The device will be plugged into the wall.
[Quote##Anyone will be able to access the pet network using the mobile app. The Petcube community will be like a virtual cat café.
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The Petcube will connect to your home Wi-Fi, allowing you to access it from wherever you are using the Petcube mobile app. From your phone you'll be able to call to your pet, control the laser with a video game-esque joystick, and take and share photos of the cat fury you're inducing.
When you get bored of playing with your own pets, you will be able to browse the Petcube community and, if their owner has made their device public, play with other people's pets.
The trio behind Petcube is Alex Neskin, Yaroslav Azhnyuk, and Andrey Klen. The concept was inspired by problems Neskin was having with leaving his black chihuahau at home. "It was constantly barking and his neighbours were complaining,"
Azhnyuk told Wired.co.uk.
Neskin's solution was to spy on his dog. He combined an Arduino chip with a webcam and watched his dog while he was out of the house. After noticing that the dog appeared bored, he attached a remote-controllable laser and started to play with his dog from work. Soon he created a web interface that let his friends play with his dog too.
You won't even need a Petcube device to access the network, says Azhnyuk. Anyone will be able to access the pet network using the mobile app. The Petcube community will be like a virtual cat café.
How the team will protect against possible privacy abuse is yet to be hammered out, but Petcube could find use in pet shelters, as pet previews for people wanting to adopt, and as a platform for pet celebrity -- though Imgur probably has that angle covered...
A prototype device was demonstrated at SeedCamp Week Berlin and the team say that they will launch on Kickstarter in early autumn 2013, when the product is ready for mass production.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
