This Smart Pet Care Robot keeps your floor clean while feeding and playing with your dog!

I trust that I’m not far off in assuming that many of us have considered adopting a pet at least once during the quarantine. But they can be a lot of work and sometimes we bite off more than we can chew. Some pet owners have busy schedules and work their pet’s needs around them, or others might seek out help from a professional dog sitter. Whatever the case may be, Taeuk Ham was awarded the Silver A’Design for his design, Puro, the pet care robot, in order to lighten the load.

Puro is a multi-functional, autonomous robot that does…a lot. It implements three distinct modes: play, clean, and air purification. In ‘play’ mode, Puro tosses dog treats when your pet is left alone in order to help alleviate some of your dog’s anxiety. Once the treat is tossed and your pup is munching, Puro enters ‘clean’ mode and vacuums over any fallen crumbs. From there, Puro operates as an air purifier to neutralize odors and suck in loose hairs or strands of fur. One of the many features that come with Puro is the smart cleaning function. Similar to the smart robot vacuum, Puro meanders around your floor in order to collect dust, dirt, hairs, and fur, avoiding your pup and other household items along the way.

Moreover, while you’re away, Puro extends its fully-integrated dog-feeding station and also tosses treats in your pup’s direction with help from an implanted camera that maps out the floor and a gyroscopic sensor that tracks angular velocity throughout any given room. This ensures that, even when you aren’t home, your pet’s eating schedule isn’t compromised. Another aspect that distinguishes this design from other smart robot vacuums is the embedded air-purifier that operates with an incorporated air filter located in the machine’s charging station. Once Puro has completed its cleaning of the living room and feeding your pet their lunch or dinner, the vacuum slinks its way into the main charging station to turn the air-purifying function on, which cools down the top, cushioned layer of Puro that doubles as a dog bed.

While Puro certainly maintains an eating schedule for your animal friend and cleans up their space for you, you can still take your dog for nice, long walks come evening time and develop that special, close bond during the hours you’re home from work. Furthermore, if you live alone and find yourself cutting corners and speeding around the clock to keep your dog’s eating on schedule, then Puro certainly takes some of that pressure from your shoulders. Having a pet takes responsibility and while Puro, or any other robot, can’t replace that close kinship we feel towards animals, it can help preserve a certain degree of trust between you and your puppy.

Designer: Taeuk Ham

This automatic dog feeder customizes portion sizes based on your pet’s body composition

 Its quarantine and I am sure I am not the only one binge-snacking while binge-watching TV. I am also not the best influence on my dog because when I get my midnight cookie and he looks at me with puppy eyes, I give him a treat too. I feel guilty after eating out of boredom and follow up with some exercises at home, so while I plank those cookies away my dog cannot do that. And since we are in lockdown, I can’t take him out for his usual long runs….so he may come out of this pandemic a little chubby and it made me wonder if there are pet feeding devices that can change portions after assessing your pet’s health.

Its 2020, anything can happen and here we have ‘In The Dog’ which is an automatic feeder that analyses your dog’s body composition before every meal. Usually, I take my dog for his routine check-up every quarter and their diets may need to be altered from time to time, especially if they are growing puppies and a feeding device like this is very handy for pet owners. If your dog has health issues then this automatic pet feeder can help. It is hard to gauge how much food is right for your dog because they can’t tell you (and honestly, even if they could tell you they would never say no to food) so having a pet feeder that can take the guesswork out and keep your dog rightly fed is amazing!

The form of the feeder is modern and sleek, it has been designed to fit with all interior styles. Unlike the usual pet bowl that is chipping off, this doesn’t look like an eyesore in the room. The front has a camera and an LED light. It also includes a metal tread plate to check your pet’s health. It comes with an app for your smartphone which reports on your dog’s body composition and recommends the portion sizes, once you authorize the automatic pet feeder will dispense the food. It is a seamless way to keep a log of their daily diet which is insightful data for any vet during check-ups. Now my dog may come out of quarantine in the same shape as he was but I need a refrigerator that can do the same for me!

Designers: AB Rh+ Yang, Gyu Hyung Han and Seokmin Jang

 

A protected outdoor dog feeder that safeguards your pet against Lungworm!

Did you know that your dog is at the risk of contracting Lungworm, especially if you live in the UK or Ireland? Me neither! Basically, Lungworm is a parasitic infection usually picked up from snails and slugs and can prove to be fatal for your dogs. We often tend to keep outdoor feeders for our pets in our backyards and gardens, without realizing that snails/slugs may use the bowl to feed and produce. If your dog, by chance, eats the snail or lick its trail, he can get infected with Lungworm! And with the fact that the snail population has increased by 50% since 2012, it’s a real tangible threat. Taking this issue into consideration, designer Karl Martin designed Bark, an outdoor feeder with a foolproof update!

The feeder looks like a standing yellow box, to be honest, however, equipped with a Makrolon 2407 PC injection-molded body, it’s pretty sturdy. The outer yellow body protects a stainless steel bowl within, which holds your pet’s food. An injection-molded ABS flap functions as a protective layer between your dog’s meal and those pesky snails, slugs and not to mention other insects and creatures (I mean let’s not count out all the other species too). Now you may be wondering whether your doggo would actually go through the trouble of pushing the flap to get to his food?

Worry not! Martin carried out extensive experiments using a mock feeder, wherein firstly the dog detected the scent of the food and followed it to the feeder. The dog’s curiosity wins him over, and he explores further, pushing his snout against the flap in an attempt to reach the food. He is rewarded by the actual presence of the food, and he is conditioned to believe that this strange structure will provide him with his daily meals. Besides being highly functional, Bark puts your pet’s health and safety first, and not to mention its bright and cute aesthetics make it quite appealing. I didn’t know dog feeders could be this innovative and cool!

Designer: Karl Martin