If you are a cat owner, you probably have a special kind of bond with your feline friend.
You probably also know that cats can do some very strange things. One minute they are purring in delight as you pet them, the next minute they are turning on you and now want to be left alone. If only they can tell you how they feel.
While their moods can be unpredictable, you always know when your kitty is hungry once you step into the kitchen and hear them meowing.
But what if your cat could actually talk back to you when you speak to it?
Get ready to be wowed, cat ladies and gents, because Mars' Temptations Lab (yes, the same Temptations as the cat treats) developed a 3D-printed collar that will give your cat a human voice so that it can finally talk back to you.
Catterbox, which is being called "the world's first talking cat collar," translates the cat's meow into English. In order to do so, the team at Temptations Lab started by analyzing various cat noises. They developed a digital sensor that is packed inside a 3D-printed collar that detects the meow, which then uses a program to turn it into a human voice.
Along with the sensor, Catterbox has a microphone and speaker, as well as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi capabilities. All the owner has to do is place the collar around the cat's neck and download the accompanying app, which will let the owner choose their cat's voice to start communicating. The collar itself has a rubber around it so that it is comfortable for the cat, and comes in four color options: black, yellow, blue and green.
And no, you didn't accidentally get into the cat nip. This is a real product. A prototype recently launched in both the United States and New Zealand.
It's important to keep in mind that Catterbox is not a mind reader. Just because the cat meows doesn't mean that the collar will translate exactly what the cat means to say in English. But it does provide a way for your cat to talk back instead of just looking at you like you are slightly crazy.
And there is actually real science behind cat communication. Studies show that cats only meow to communicate with humans, not with other felines. Next time your cat is trying to tell you something, you might just be about to know exactly what it is.
Check out Chatterbox in the video below.
