* Fordham University Department of Computer and Information Science ** Healthy Pet Technologies WagTag  : A Dog Collar Accessory for Monitoring Canine Activity Levels Gary M. Weiss*, Ashwin Nathan**, JB Kropp**, and Jeffrey W. Lockhart* September 9, 20131Atelier of Smart Garmets and Accessories

Motivation  Wearable accessories to monitor human activity is a growing market  Inactivity is major human health problem  Examples: FitBit, Jawbone, Nike, smart watches  Dogs have inactivity/weight problems  31% of dogs are overweight and 21% are obese  Reduces life expectancy  Potentially Big Market  47M dog owners in US (78M dogs)  $53B spent on dogs in 2012 September 9, 20132Atelier of Smart Garmets and Accessories

Motivation (cont.)  Owners responsible for regulating dog’s exercise  Until recently limited or no tools to track and monitor dog’s activities September 9, 20133Atelier of Smart Garmets and Accessories

The Competition  Tagg: pettracker.com  Initially for locating pets but extended for activity tracking  Has GPS and $7.99 monthly fee  App needed to track activities  FitBark  Bone-shaped device that attaches to collar  Interface is via a phone app (barkscore)  Will retail for $99  Can preorder (estimated Jan 2014) September 9, 20134Atelier of Smart Garmets and Accessories

 Whistle:  Attaches to collar  Interface via smartphone  Retails for $99.95 ▪ Can preorder (estimated Fall 2013) ▪ Announced after the Wagtag work shown in these slides was done  When Wagtag started not much competition  Design decisions made w/o input from competition September 9, 20135Atelier of Smart Garmets and Accessories

 Wagtag includes an accelerometer (20 Hz)  Data processed locally by activity classifier which determines three values: resting, walking, running  Information display  Device displays WagTag points & progress to goal  Stats relayed to WagTag server via BlueTooth connection with phone ▪ Server performs detailed analysis, factoring in dog’s traits and info then sent to and displayed on phone September 9, 2013Atelier of Smart Garmets and Accessories6

 Aesthetics  Dogs are viewed as reflection of owner (stylish)  Must work for police dogs as well as teenager pet  Must handle many different situations  Dogs vary more than people (e.g., size)  Must be rugged  Dogs will not take special care of this accessory  Visual interface must be readable from leash distance (unique to WagTag)  Most dogs have multiple caregivers making phone- based app less appealing September 9, 20137Atelier of Smart Garmets and Accessories

 Do not build an entire collar  Allows for individual style and dog characteristics  Implications ▪ Less room for electronics and battery and visual interface ▪ Must attach securely to variety of collars and collar widths September 9, 20138Atelier of Smart Garmets and Accessories

 Separate battery from other electronics and place attachment method in between  Sandwiching device around collar halves visual footprint and perceived depth  Leads to low profile  Design decisions protect the device  Low profile & half of device protected by collar  Outer edges chamfered & protected by rubber  Lower profile than Tagg, Fitbark & Whistle  They are subject to increased leverage and impact September 9, 20139Atelier of Smart Garmets and Accessories

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 Utilize same data mining method/process as WISDM Labs Actitracker smartphone-based human activity recognition (actitracker.com)  Preliminary results based on only 7 dogs  Results for universal models were modest and need to be improved ▪ Not sufficient sample to use breed, sex, etc in the model  Results for personalized models were very good ▪ Parallels our results for people September 9, 2013Atelier of Smart Garmets and Accessories12

 WagTag is under active development but no release date has been set  Recognize that the market is getting crowded but visual display on the device distinguishes Wagtag September 9, 2013Atelier of Smart Garmets and Accessories13