Charming AI Robots Will Steal Your Pups!

Last week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas was heavy on artificial intelligence, including new thinking machines programmed to care for your pets when you cannot. Among the new products is the Oro Dog Companion Robot, an AI-powered droid from Ogmen Robotics.

The new dog-nanny bot has an impressive suite of functions to cater to Fido’s needs, and to keep you in virtual touch with your pet when you're away from home. There’s two-way audio and a video screen, so you can interact with your dog remotely; an embedded camera to take pics and videos; a treat dispenser; and a separate, automatic food bowl that can be pre-programmed to dole out food on schedule or activated by you from afar.

This thing will even play with your pet. Oro is equipped with a ball thrower housed in its middle, so it can actually play fetch, assuming your pup can be trained to retrieve the ball and return it to its robotic overlord. The robot will be able to navigate your home autonomously using a lidar-based mapping system, so that you – or anyway it – can keep tabs on your pet’s whereabouts.

Most impressive (and perhaps most unnerving) is that, as an advanced AI learning machine, Oro will supposedly get to know your dog by learning its behavior patterns. So if the robot senses distress or restlessness in your pet, it will play soothing music or initiate play. According to tech-review website CNET, “Oro comes programmed to recognize audible and physical signs of distress in 10 of the most popular domestic breeds.”

These new gizmos are impressive for sure, but what if our dogs are so smitten by their new robotic caretakers, they lose interest in us? 

Watch the pet-bots in action here. Oro will be available in April for $799.

Photo credit: Ogmen Robotics