Wouldn’t life be a lot easier if you didn’t have to guess at what your cat was thinking? If they could tell us when they’re sick, sad, hungry, or in the mood for cuddles, we’d never have to worry about their well-being again. So far we’ve been forced to rely on body language and best guesses, but a brand new app might just change that. MeowTalk is new technology that designers are claiming to be a bona-fide cat translator.
Javier Sanchez, a current project manager with big tech company Akvelon, designed the app as a way to help cat people bond with their pets. He used his past experience working on Amazon’s Alexa to design the app using AI and machine learning. In simple terms, the app listens to your cat’s meows, recognizes the sound, and then presents a translation based on a few built-in responses plus specific translations that cat parents add on their own.
To start, the app comes with nine basic emotions/needs that all cats have. They include phrases like “I’m hungry” and “I’m in love.” Sanchez recognizes, however, that all cats are individuals. They communicate in different ways, and the app is designed to become more accurate with use.
Users can input their own translations when they’re confident in what their cat is trying to say, and the app will learn from that data. Cat parents can input any kind of custom message they want and pair it to a specific type of meow through a recording. The next time the app recognizes the same meow, it will match it with the previously entered translation.
To make it more personalized, the app allows users to make profiles for each cat. It’s up to cat parents to correct the app if they feel the translation is wrong, and that fine-tuning will ultimately make future translations more accurate.
As a cat lover himself, Sanchez hopes his invention will help bring cats and people closer together. MeowTalk is available for iPhone and Android, so check it out! And let us know what you think!
