Bowlingual Dog Translator in the News

Tech lite: At home with Bowlingual, the dog bark analyzer

By Martyn Williams, IDG News Service
APRIL 25, 2003

Like most dog owners, Keiko Egawa thought she understood her dog pretty well.
When Harry, a 7-year-old Alaskan Malamute barked, growled or whimpered, Egawa could usually figure out what he wanted or was trying to communicate to her. But she was never completely sure. So last year, when Takara Co. began offering a device that supposedly interprets what a dog is saying, she jumped at the chance to try it.

She wasn't alone. More than 300,000 people in Japan have bought the $123 Bowlingual since it first went on sale in September, and things have gone so well that it will soon be launched in the U.S. and South Korea.

"I wanted to talk or understand a lot more," Egawa said, explaining why she got a Bowlingual.

Bowlingual consists of a collar eqipped with a microphone and a transmitter, plus a handheld receiver unit that gets data from the microphone and attempts to work out what the dog is saying.

The system works by analyzing and classifying a dog's emotions into one of six main categories: sad, frustrated, needy, happy, self-expressive and on guard, said Kennedy Gitchel, a spokesman for Takara in Tokyo. Within those categories, there are a number of set phrases of which the Bowlingual chooses one at random.

To be sure, owners shouldn't expect the device to turn their dogs into a modern-day equivalent of Lassie. Unlike the star of the 1950s TV show, who could convey in a few barks something like "Come quick, Timmy has fallen down Old Man Thompson's well again," users are much more likely to get something along the lines of "I want food" or "Get out of my face."

Simple as those phrases may be, Takara said they're all based on research the company has done with a local acoustics lab and researchers in animal behavior. Egawa said that more often than not, she feels her Bowlingual is in tune with Harry's feelings.

"I think it is correct about 70% of the time. The rest of the time, maybe it is correct but I am not entirely sure," she said. Egawa finds the Bowlingual most useful around the home. "I can understand what he feels or what he wants to say without having to see his face. Before we go to the park he always says he wants to play and after a walk he always says he is hungry."

The U.S. version of Bowlingual is scheduled to be launched in August and should hit South Korean shelves two months earlier. It will cost around $120, said Takara's Gitchel.

The company has high expectations for sales in the U.S., where the dog population is estimated at somewhere between 60 million and 70 million, compared with around 10 million in Japan. When the device launched in Japan, it sold out in one day and received extensive media coverage. It was also named one of the coolest gadgets of the year by Time magazine and has won prizes awarded each year to inventions that first make people laugh and then make them think.

Egawa said she still hasn't decided if having the Bowlingual is good for Harry. "When you understand a dog and know their feelings, you want to listen and react to them. But if you adore them too much, they think they are more powerful than the owner, and that is bad. I think the biggest problem is that I react to him more."

She also acknowledged another nagging problem every time she takes Harry outside and uses the Bowlingual. "When people see me, I am always wondering if they are thinking, Wow, there is really someone who would go out and buy that."

Source:

http://www.computerworld.com/printthis/2003/0,4814,80703,00.html