Devices that track your pet’s whereabouts aren’t exactly new. Your pooch might have a chip embedded right now. But Invoxia is looking to be best in show of a different sort at CES 2022. The company’s new Smart Dog Collar can monitor your pet’s vital signs via advanced technology as well as track via GPS in case he or she gets lost. Like an Apple Watch for their furry necks.
The new dog-sitters: AI and radar sensors
Most canine trackers use accelerometers and GPS sensors, but Invoxia has gone further with its new collar. The company, which makes a variety of location trackers, said it worked with board-certified veterinary cardiologists to develop deep-learning artificial intelligence (AI) that relies on miniaturized radar sensors for health readings.
For example, the collar can read your dog’s heart and respiratory rates. Then you can sync the readings to the companion app, along with statistics on regular daily activities, like walking, running, barking, scratching, eating, drinking and resting.
Where’s Waldo — er, Spot?
As far as location tracking goes, the smart collar can track your dog’s location at all times using a combination of Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS and LTE. And you can prompt a buzzer in the collar to sound off, in case your best pal is not far away yet out of your line of sight.
Invoxia noted the collar should be able to take radar readings regardless of the thickness or length of your dog’s hair, thanks to sensor placement. In addition, the collar should be comfortable because it can fit loosely and still take readings, unlike many human fitness trackers.
Photo: Invoxia
Not the only pet health tracker
Invoxia’s new collar isn’t the only pet tech tracking dog vital signs. Continuous heart rate monitoring EKG vests and a product called the Petpace Smart Collar also exist. But they’re aimed more at veterinarians than they are average pet owners. And they don’t include GPS tracking.
Such devices — now including the Invoxia Smart Dog Collar — can be useful for monitoring pets post-surgery, helping determine how they might respond to medication and keeping watch over those with known cardiac and respiratory illnesses. And theoretically, detecting anomalies in a pet’s baseline health metrics might help owners and veterinarians catch illnesses before they progress too far.
A few practicalities
The Invoxia collar also has a removable fabric covering for easier cleaning if your dog likes to get messy, as dogs do. Who knows what you’re going to have to wash off that thing.
And note that upon launch, Invoxia’s smart collar is just for medium to large-sized dogs. That’s because it’s hard to miniaturize the technology to make it comfortable for smaller pooches, or for cats. For them, this collar would be too much on the thick and heavy side.
The Invoxia Smart Dog Collar launches in summer 2022 and will cost $99, Invoxia said. It estimates a monthly subscription for GPS features will cost an additional $12.99 per month.
