The engineers and designers at Varram were disappointed to learn that 60% of cats and 56% of dogs in the United States are overweight or obese (based on the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention’s 2017 Survey). Obesity can increase the risk for diabetes, arthritis, high blood pressure, kidney diseases and cancer, and pets left alone during the day can be destructive and more prone to urinating all over the house. The obvious answer of quitting our jobs to be at home with our pets all day is impractical, so the group developed Varram, a pet fitness robot and is currently running a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign.
The Varram robot was designed to stimulate all five senses of a pet using its ARM Cortex M4 MCU controller, six axis accelerometer, three axis magnetic sensor, infrared distance measuring sensor, and a touch sensor. Obstacle recognition and avoidance is shown on the campaign page as the unit navigates a room and a pet. The bot is intended for people who leave their pet alone for up to ten hours, and a two hour charging time for the lithium polymer 3.7 Volt 800 milli-Amp hour battery will give four hours of continuous use, easily lasting the recommended ten minutes per hour of pet stimulation. The unit is 6.5 x 5 x 4.05 inches in size, weighs 1.5 pounds, and operates between -10 and 45 degrees Celsius. Some due care testing is shown in the video, including IPX4 waterproofing to allow cleanup with a wet rag or pet urination.
We’ve got a seven month old Bernese mountain dog at the house, and coming home to discover what’s been chewed up, peed on or moved around has become a daily occurrence. I can easily see the utility of a pet fitness / entertainment bot, and appreciate that the app can control actions or schedules during the day. Most of the work here seems to be centered around dogs but there’s a spot in the FAQ that says more cat-centric algorithms are being developed now. Several questions are answered in the FAQ along with questions in the Comment section, and it’s good to see that testing and development work has been done here. A camera seems like a glaring omission for the bot’s features but the FAQ says that the developers could not justify the cost to add the camera in this version. The company already has Riley the Appbot on the market, and much of that technology is transferred here to Varram. The campaign is already successful and ends on October 18, 2018.