Seattle, USA – On May 18 2017, Angry Lychee LLC launched a Kickstarter campaign for Felik, the first ever commercially available AI Pet Toy. Designed to interact with your pets in a highly naturalistic way, Felik uses predictive motion tracking software combined with a wide field IR (infrared-sensitive) camera to control the motions of a laser pointer that’s been demonstrated to keep pets playfully entertained, even while owners are away.
“Many of us leave for work in the morning and come back late in the afternoon. Our pets stay at home and greet us with excitement when we come back. I personally have two cats and wished they had a companion to play with in my absence,” said Founder, Yuri Brigance, “This companion had to be smart, engaging, fun, and work with no human supervision. This was the inspiration for Felik. Its patented computer vision system can identify, track, and react to your pets’ movements in a natural way even while you are not at home. Just a few play sessions a day has gone a long way in helping distract my big cat Mike from his food bowl!”
Most existing laser pet toys move in unnaturally random or pre-programmed patterns with no intelligence behind their dull movements. Others require full human interaction to control them in real-time, which is no different than simply moving a laser by hand. These products all lack the fast-reactive intelligence needed to keep your pets fully engaged and focused on the hunt. Felik does this by simulating real prey, similar to a bug or a mouse.
Felik can be activated manually, or managed on a pre-programmed schedule which is done through the Felik Companion App built for iPhone and Android. The app allows you to customize the AI’s behavior to match your furry hunter’s skill level and style. Felik will also provide pet owners with useful reminders to use physical toys that can be touched and felt to play with their pets. Owners can track how frequently they engage in play using both Felik and more traditional pet toys.
Want to participate in the action? Felik allows you to suggest where the laser should go in real time using the live video feed on the app. For those concerned about safety, Felik will always do its best to avoid pointing the laser beam directly into your pets’ eyes the way other products have done, so it’s a safe bet there.
“Yuri brought us on as he was looking to find a more elegant but practical solution for the mechanization and packaging of his core technology. We prefer taking an Occam’s Razor approach to design favoring simplicity so we focused initially on an overall reduction of size and complexity to what we observed in the development prototypes,” explained Shaun Kjellman of cadmodels.com, “We then wrestled to uncover a form that would satisfy the packaging constraints of several off-shelf components while giving Felik the design character worthy of its target audience. We’re all really excited to see what Felik will do especially given that it’s a first of its kind in this category of products, and because we’re animal lovers.”
Early supporters of the Kickstarter campaign can purchase Felik for the reduced amount of up to $104, which is roughly 43% of it’s planned in-store retail price. Felik can be wall mounted, placed on a shelf, countertop, or any other flat surface and powered easily via a standard 3 amp 5 volt power adapter. For those concerned with the décor of their homes, a slightly upscaled but optional mounting stand can be had for 50% off when purchased as a bundle.
For more information, please visit the Kickstarter page here or contact the creator below.
Contact Information
Email: support@felik.net
Website: felik.net
Instagram: @felik.ai
Facebook: felikaipettoy
