CatGo
CatGo is a smart device ecosystem designed to help cat owners monitor, track, and understand their pets' health and behavior. By gaining deeper insights into cat behaviors, owners can provide improved care and strengthen their bond with their cats. CatGo was developed as part of the Pervasive Interaction Design course, with a focus on integrating Internet of Things (IoT) technologies and physical computing.
The Process
Opportunities on smart device for cats
78%
Acquired pets during pandemic
46mm
Households own cats in the United States
62%
Increased money spent on their pets
32%
18-25-yr-old purchased smart monitoring devices
Understanding the cat owners
Survey
What type of frustrations and concerns do cat owners face? How do cat owners decide their cats' health and care?
Diary Study
What interactions do cat owners have with their cats daily? How do cat owners' emotions change throughout the day based on their interactions with cats?
Users' needs: Better knowledge of the cat's health, better cat care
How might we help cat owners…
01
Collect, monitor, and display cats' daily engagement, diet, water, and bowel movement behaviors?
02
Alert, and understand abnormalities in cats' health and daily behaviors?
03
Enhance emotional connection with their cats?
04
Maintain good cat hygiene while they are away from their cats?
Prioritization based on user enactment
5 user enactments were conducted with cat owners. The prototypes for user enactment consisted of a way to track the cat’s daily behaviors (i.e. feeding, drinking, littering), the cat’s location tracking inside the house, a smart cat toy, and data analytics of the cat’s health and behavior data.
What we found…
01 Daily behavior tracking
Users all liked the idea of tracking cats' intake and litter behaviors daily, and they wanted to know the exact amount.
02 Silent location tracking
Users are interested in cats' locations throughout the day, while they prefer not to be notified in terms of cats' locations
03 Data plus insights
Users wanted a report or other intuitive format giving them insights into cats' health and how to better take care of their cats.
04 Smart toys not preferred
A remote smart toy can be fun, but users are concerned about sustainability as cats are likely to get bored of a single type of toy.
Producing prototypes for in-person testings
CatGo won the prize of the most feasible design in 5 - 10 years in the pervasive interaction design cohort.
