Happy Pet is an interactive box and web app.
It serves as a communication system between a helpless caged animal and a busy human.
The system tracks chores like feeding, cleaning, giving water, and playing with, then personifies the crab’s emotions as the quality of care changes. The human presses a button when they perform a care taking task, and can check their pet's happiness level on a mobile website.
Unlike calorie and chore tracking apps, happy pet can be updated only when near the pets cage engaging in the caretaking activity. (No cheating, no forgetting.) The user receives positive reinforcement by seeing their pet smile. The caged pet gains the opportunity to reach out and ask for the things that he needs.
Happy Pet is a work in progress. It currently works with the Happy Pet box connected to a computer that displays images of either the happy, worried, or sad state of a hermit crab.
Next Steps Include:
- Creating a website to show the pet's emotions on the go
- Animating the animal
- Making the box connect to the internet directly
- Adding support for other "not-emotive" pets
Follow my progress here.
Below is an example of the animation style:
