Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Dream Cat (Yume Neko )

Note to Hasbro (re: Fur Real Cat )

Hi Guys,

Nice product, Sega call it the Dream Cat (Yume Neko). We thought you might like some user feedback.

Snow White, as my wife has taken to calling her, is pretty realistic.

Snow White

She spooks the next door cat through the window and appears responsive to attention (that would be the light sensor, I guess). So here are my top three suggestions for the product R&D team.

1. Make kitty more responsive. I know that returning the adoring human’s gaze is difficult (mini-cameras and expensive image processing). I think stereo-microphones would work just as well, tracking the direction of people’s voices and inclining kitty's head just so.

2. Limited mobility ... I know, expensive extra motors and more smart processing. Still, I have a vision of a docking station, where a rechargeable kitty could plug-in. It also contains a low-powered radio beacon, which Kitty locks onto so as to avoid straying too far. Trust me, the punters would love it.

3. Enough with the three ‘C’ batteries. Make kitty rechargeable.

All that other cute stuff – webcams, WiFi, intruder detection and prevention (love those titanium claws!). It’s all good stuff, but really, it can come later.