LuluPet’s AI Recognition in the Litter Box: Detect Abnormal Cat Litter Before it’s Too Late
LAS VEGAS, Jan. 8, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — LuluPet and other notable homegrown startups led by Taiwan Tech Arena (TTA) are now showcasing their innovative solutions at CES 2020.
Cats are quite capable of withstanding pain; hiding any signs of discomfort they may be experiencing. This means that the quickest way to tell your kitty’s condition is through its litter. Taiwanese startup LuluPet has developed an intelligent litter box solution. Combined with AI image restoration technology, this litter box automatically detects cat litter condition and helps look for abnormalities in the cat’s body in places where cat owners cannot.
Among the top ten causes of death for domestic cats, seven were feces-related diseases. Cats, however, are born concealers of their own weaknesses, making it difficult for owners to find out whether their precious feline is in pain. LuluPet illustrates this with the example of kidney failure: Statistically, a cat’s kidneys are 70% damaged by the time the owner suspects an illness and brings the cat to the veterinarian. The organ damage is not only irreversible, but subsequent medical fees may cost up to US$ 1,200.
Sick cats aren’t completely undetectable. According to the Bristol stool scale, cat feces may be divided into 7 categories, ranging from constipation to diarrhea; constipation may be caused by the pressing of a tumor, while symptoms of diarrhea may be the result of common systemic diseases such as kidney failure. Stool analysis thus becomes the most straightforward way of detecting these diseases.
People are paying more and more attention to pet healthcare, yet there will inevitably be owners who are weighed down by the complexity and busyness of modern life and become less perceptive of their pets. Owners, who raise multiple cats, find it difficult to assign litter to a specific cat. LuluPet identified this pain point and put 2 years into developing an “intelligent litter box.”
This intelligent litter box works mainly by detecting with lenses whether the cat is urinating or littering. It not only detects littering frequency and litter weight but also the condition of the litter (normal, constipation, diarrhea, etc.). After judging litter conditions through the use of AI image restoration, it uses this data to notify the owner of the cat’s health.
LuluPet also notes that a cat’s behavior of burying their litter is nothing to worry about, as the intelligent litter box combines cat identification, weighing, fur identification and AI image restoration technologies. The litter box comes with 2 AI systems: one for litter analysis, and another that analyzes clumping between litter and litter box material. The latter attempts to reconstruct litter shape and present it to the former for confirmation, and can currently identify litter with an accuracy of up to 90%.
The Intelligent litter box keeps a record of cat conditions that often go unnoticed by the owner. LuluPet says that it also plans to further develop its AI and allow it to conduct initial diagnostics via stool observation the day after enough data has been collected.
SOURCE Taiwan Tech Arena
