Forget smart cars – how about smart cats? This new talking feline translation collar from Mars Petcare is real (and not a belated April Fool’s joke). See why it’s our video viral of thw week below…
The Catterbox collar was developed by Mars’ Temptations Lab as a fun project which can ‘translate’ cat vocalisations to a human voice.
A team analysed cat vocalisations and associated them with equivalent human emotions.
Prototypes of the collar have been launched in the US and New Zealand.
Explaining the concept on its website, the team said: “Studies have shown that adult cats meow when talking to humans, not to each other. We’ve analysed these cat sounds and created a program that detects a cat’s meow and matches it to a human voice. We then put this technology inside a sleek 3D printed collar which connects seamlessly to our app where you can choose your cat’s new voice.”
