How many videos of animals “talking” have you watched on YouTube? Don’t you wish those were real? Well, it looks like someone listened to your wishes and developed a product especially for you.
The Nordic Society for Invention and Discovery (that’s a long name, isn’t it?), the research lab behind such hits as the iRock chair and Nebula 12, the surreal cloud making chandelier, thought that man’s best friend should be given a voice, and by that they mean more than just woofs that could be misinterpreted so easily. No More Woof is an EEG reading headset that can translate the thoughts of our companions into comprehensible English.
A Raspberry Pi microcomputer is included for the interpretation of the brainwaves recorded by the No More Woof headset. Upon discovering certain thought patterns corresponding to brainwaves of a particular frequency, the researchers proceeded to making a fully functional prototype. These thought patters are then translated into human language that pet owners can ultimately hear via a loudspeaker. Don’t expect to become Dr. Doolittle any time soon, though, as this EEG headset only enables dogs to talk to you.
The team of researchers turned to Indiegogo to crowdfund their project. No one can dispute the success of their campaign, as at press time they raised $13,021 out of the initial goal of $10K, and they still have 55 more days to go. I guess we’ll all speak doggish pretty soon! Or was it the other way around? Hmmm… Depending on how many thought patters you want the NMW headset to discern, you can pick between the $65 NMW Micro and the $300 NMW Standard. Apparently there’s also a $600 edition for early adopters.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CweAeshjObA
Allow me to be a bit skeptical (oh, no, I don’t doubt for a single second the capacity of Swedish people to invent incredible things), but for the moment all we can do is take the word of these researchers for granted. They do claim that at this stage the No More Woof headset is still experimental, so we’ll have to wait till the funders will get their products to see if they really work or not.
I know that certain breeds are more difficult to train than others, so I’d be really curious to hear what the more stubborn specimens have to say for themselves. Probably “Hell, no, I’m not doing that thing!”
If you liked this post, please check the Neurowear camera, which uses brainwaves to trigger its shutter, and this electric shock gaming headset.
