Generally, we keep pets to get comfort or consolation in a time of distress or sadness. But, many of us refuse to keep pets because we don’t have time to look after them, some of us are allergic to them, and others don’t have a safe and healthy environment for the pets. We get affectionated towards pets when cute clothes are put on them. To counter these problems, pets can now be replaced with pet-like robots.

A recently published patent application from Kaname Hayashi from Tokyo talks about a technology that changes the behavioral characteristics of a pet robot when clothes are put on it. The pet robot can perform simple motions like moving forward and back, left and right, rotating, raising and waving arms. A camera is incorporated in the eye of the pet robot for image display. The pet robot also include sensors like an ultrasonic sensor, a thermosensor, a microphone, etc. which help it in delivering simple speech too. The pet robot changes its motion according to the clothes put on it. Each cloth has a radio-frequency identifier (RFID) tag sewn in, which relates to a specific “clothing ID”. Each clothing ID has a related motion saved online which is performed by the pet robot when the robot is wearing the clothes. The motion can be performing a backflip, running towards you, kicking, and so on. The pet robot includes a drive mechanism to execute the motions, and a control unit to control them. The pet robot senses the clothes worn by it. The pet robot can also recognize you by visualizing your activities.

This invention can help in increasing human’s empathy towards the robots. People who don’t like to have pets can also taste the benefits of having pets. But, can a pet robot really be replaced with a live pet? We must wait and see how people actually take on to this robot pet.

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