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Could a quantified self device that tracks a pets’ sniffing, eating, and peeing patterns alert family to when something is amiss at grandma’s house?
What if Lassie were a quantified selfer? Granted, her barking saved many humans from a barn and forest fire, but researchers at England’s Newcastle University say that even more subtle changes in a dog’s behavior could clue us into problems in their owners’ lives–especially if those owners are older, isolated, and might eschew Fitbits and other wearable tracking devices themselves.
Dr. Cassim Ladha and Nils Hammerla have designed a “collar-worn accelerometry platform” that can recognize 17 standard dog behaviors, including chewing, peeing, shivering, and sniffing. The system, which they presented at Zurich’s UbiComp conference last month, is based on the notion that if you measure a dog’s behavior over a long enough period of time, certain regular patterns emerge. If a dog shows a sudden decrease in activity, or isn’t being fed at regular intervals, it could be a sign that something’s out of whack at home.
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