Pets

Furbo lets you dispense dog treats from afar

Furbo lets you dispense dog treats from afar
Furbo lets you feed and talk to your dog remotely
Furbo lets you feed and talk to your dog remotely
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Bluetooth allows the unit to automatically switch off when you're within range
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Bluetooth allows the unit to automatically switch off when you're within range
If you suffer separation anxiety, the app will let you communicate with your dog
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If you suffer separation anxiety, the app will let you communicate with your dog
The Furbo app will alert you if your dog is barking
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The Furbo app will alert you if your dog is barking
You can keep tabs on your dog from a distance with 4X zoom
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You can keep tabs on your dog from a distance with 4X zoom
A two-way audio system lets you communicate with your dog during the day
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A two-way audio system lets you communicate with your dog during the day
The unit streams 720p video
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The unit streams 720p video
You can load the treat container up with your choice of treat
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You can load the treat container up with your choice of treat
The treat popper plays a game of close-range fetch with your dog
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The treat popper plays a game of close-range fetch with your dog
Owners can track their pets through a companion app
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Owners can track their pets through a companion app
Furbo will warn you when your dog is barking at home
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Furbo will warn you when your dog is barking at home
The treats are kept under a bamboo cover
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The treats are kept under a bamboo cover
The Furbo will shoot out a treat to placate restless dogs during the day
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The Furbo will shoot out a treat to placate restless dogs during the day
The Furbo unit attaches to a desktop or flat surface with 3M adhesive
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The Furbo unit attaches to a desktop or flat surface with 3M adhesive
Furbo lets you feed and talk to your dog remotely
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Furbo lets you feed and talk to your dog remotely
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For dog owners who treat their pets like children, it can be hard leaving them alone while at work. Who's going to pamper your pooch with treats while you're gone? What if - in the absence of your constant reminders - they forget who is, in fact, a good boy? Furbo is designed to allay these fears by letting you remotely talk to, and feed, your pet.

Furbo is made up of a HD camera, two-way audio and a treat-tossing mechanism. Rather than being passive and trying to remove the human effort from fetch, or saving you the effort of bobbing a cat's toy up and down, it's designed to promote interaction from a distance.

Owners are able to see what their dog is doing through a 120-degree 720p camera, which is fitted out with 4X zoom and night vision. There's also two-way audio, allowing you to hear what your pet has to, er, say and respond from your desk.

Furbo will even notify you via the companion app when it detects your dog barking, although it won't keep track of your pet's health like Kyon, or act as a Fitbit-style canine trainer. Considering our pets have survived this long without up-to-the-minute reports on their temperature and step counts, that's no great shame.

The Furbo app will alert you if your dog is barking
The Furbo app will alert you if your dog is barking

Once you've synced your Furbo companion app (iOS, Android or Apple Watch) with the Wi-Fi-enabled base unit at home, you can even remotely launch a treat for your dog. Swiping up on your live stream will shoot whatever you've loaded into the treat-container off in a random direction, engaging the pet in a game of close-range fetch. Oddly enough, nothing in Furbo's material says it can't be loaded with jellybeans and used to placate children, either.

To prevent curious pooches from knocking the unit over and feasting on all the treats inside, the unit can be secured with 3M adhesive on the base, and there's a flush-fitting bamboo lid on the treat container.

If all of this isn't enough, or you're not content with watching your dog's every move alone, the system will let you record video and photos to share on social media. Although Furbo claims this could make your pet "the next viral superstar," we're pretty sure it'll lead to a swift exodus of followers tired of updates on how much of a #cutiepie your dog is.

Those concerned with privacy will be pleased to know there's a smart setting that turns the camera off when your phone is within Bluetooth range, so paranoid partners can't use the camera to keep tabs on their spouse using the system.

A two-way audio system lets you communicate with your dog during the day
A two-way audio system lets you communicate with your dog during the day

The remote treat-dispenser is currently on Indiegogo, where it has raised over US$89,200 – comfortably more than the initial $50,000 goal. If things go as planned, the product should ship in July this year, at which point buyers can expect to pay $239. If you get in early, however, Furbo is offering the unit for pledges of just $99.

That $239 pricetag is $70 more than you'll have to pay for the Petzi Treat Cam, which shares all but the bark alert feature with Furbo. It also won't provide treats at regular intervals like the $71 Foobler, which is designed to make bored pets play for their food.

Furbo's video showing the treat dispenser in action is below.

Source: Furbo

Meet Furbo: The Camera That Helps Train a Dog

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