Okay, I rarely spend time looking at “concept machines” but this one just made me chuckle enough that I had to share it. In our hectic lives there is one group that constantly suffers from lack of attention: our pets. So what’s the solution – spending more time at home, or giving your pet a backyard, maybe even finding someone to help care for your pet? No, of course, not. That’s not technologically advanced enough. What your pet needs is a robotic sitter, one that you can control from anywhere in the world via WiFi. MintSelect, a technology concept community, has dreamed up their Robot Pet Sitter, a device that will let you speak to, watch, and even play fetch with your animal. Teach your pet to obey its robotic overlord just as it would obey you.

As far as I can tell, the Robot Pet Sitter would function almost exactly as a Rovio. Like that robot, the Pet Sitter would connect to your home WiFi network and allow you to access the device through a web browser. While I can’t speak to whether or not animals will enjoy interacting with robots, I do know that telepresence is a developing trend in technology. Remotely accessing your home, for security or pet soothing, is just the beginning. Once we are able to transmit sensation from a machine to a human (a capability known as haptics) people will feel what is happening to the robot they are operating. In essence, you will be able to interact with distant objects just as if you were there with them. That level of connectivity may make travel obsolete.
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