Ever wonder if your cat is chowing down a little too often? Now conscientious cat owners can breathe a sigh of relief after a startup based in San Mateo, California, has created Bistro, a smart feeder that can track Kitty’s appetite and weight change using a proprietary social network and “cat facial-recognition technology.”
As well as accessing your cat’s health reports, Bistro also dispenses a pre-portioned amount of food. Using the app, owners can create a profile for their cat on Bistro’s social network, share updates, photos and videos of its daily activities with other owners.
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Bistro has a built-in camera that monitors a cat as it eat and drinks, transmitting a live video feed, which owners can view on their smartphone using the Bistro app. The device also measures and charts the amount of food and water a cat is consuming, so owners can easily notice strange behavior. Creator Mu-Chi Sung has been working on facial-recognition technology for the past two years, and applying it to dashboard cameras. This background knowledge served as the foundation for Bistro, but it was Sung’s personal experience that ultimately inspired him to create the feeder. One of Sung’s three cats, Momo, stopped eating aftergetting pancreatitis, but Sung didn’t notice until it was almost too late. Momo’s hind legs had to be amputated, though she eventually recovered. source
Sung said he receives requests to make variations on the cat feeder for other animals, like dogs.
