No More Woof aims to translate dog thoughts

18 Dec 2013

Image via No More Woof's Indiegogo webpage

A headset worn by dogs that translates their thoughts into approximate human speech – it could happen, if Sweden-based company ST raises enough funds on Indiegogo to develop the No More Woof device.

No More Woof uses a Raspberry Pi computer with EEG recorders and a speaker that takes ‘iconic current flows’ in the dog’s brain and translates them into roughly human language, Clickonline reports.

ST said the US$65 device can detect and differentiate between three types of dog thought: tired, hungry and curious.

A higher-end model of No More Woof claims to have more translations.

The device is still in the conceptual stage, ST has stressed on its Indiegogo page.

“Yes, we HAVE achieved some results, but we are very far from a mass-producable product. That said, we believe that within a few years the technologies we are working with will revolutionise our relation to pets and animals.”

So far, the Indiegogo campaign for No More Woof has raised US$730 (its goal is US$10,000).

This all brings to mind that old Far Side comic by Gary Larson:

The Far Side

Tina Costanza was a journalist and sub-editor at Silicon Republic

editorial@siliconrepublic.com