For anyone who has a dog, at one time or another, you may wonder what on Earth they could be thinking sometimes. A good crouch sniff, a daily tail chasing, and even what they could be thinking when they hide in the corner after tearing into the Thanksgiving turkey. Afterall, dog is man’s best friend and at some level, dog and man have to have some sort of unexplainable connection and understanding of one another. That wonderment may be coming to an end with a new product called No More Woof, a dog translator created by Nordic Inventions.
Essentially, this company has created this wearable gadget to put aroud your furry’s friends head that will analyze their doggy thoughts and translate them into phrases such as,”Is that really you?” “This is splendid!” or “Night-time!”
Does this dog translator really work?
Now, before you get too excited and think that the holy grail of animal translating has finally happened, the company has stressed that this is in a very infancy stage and that the product you will be purchasing is a prototype. At this point in time, it will be mainly used for research purposes and support.
Let me reinflate some of that air you let out of your balloon and explain to you how it works and that it is very possible as we are finally in an age where the studying of the Brain, particularly the human brain, has made leaps and bounds.
Okay, so how does it work then?
The basic science behind it is that it uses technology in three different areas, including; EEG-sensoring, micro computing and special BCI hardware. All mammals create and transport their thoughts through a series of electrical signals in their brain. For instance; if you are hungry your hypothalamus lights up, if you are happy, the frontal lobe is activated. Granted, it’s possible the dog brain may be wired very differently than ours, but there is no better way to find out than through trial and error.
The combination of reading your dog’s brain waves through EEG sensoring, a tiny computer called a Raspberry Pi, and a speaker is what make up the current prototype. After the electrical signals in your pup’s brain are recorded, their patterns are then translated into phrases in English.
Final thoughts
This No More Wood Dog Translator should be considered part novelty at first until the challenges of studying an animal’s thought patterns are unraveled. Brainwaves greatly differ in dogs as compared to humans and may even differ between breeds. As Nordic Inventions states,”Right now we are only scraping the surface of possibilities; the project is only in its cradle. And to be completely honest, the first version will be quite rudimentary. But hey, the first computer was pretty crappy too.”
