System for humans and pets to interact remotely

Abstract

A system that allows humans to interact with and send touch remotely to their pets. The system has a tangible interface for humans that allow both visual and tactile modes of communication on one end, and a haptic pet wearable jacket on the other end. It allows humans to interact remotely with pets even when they are not physically at the same place as the pets. On the tangible interface for humans, human views the real time movement of the pet in the form of a pet doll sitting on a mechanical positioning system. The movement of the actual pet is tracked using a web camera. The pet doll has embedded touch sensing circuit that senses and transmit data wirelessly to the computer. This touch data is sent across the Internet to another computer which is connected to the haptic pet wearable jacket. The real pet wears the pet jacket, which is able to reproduce the touching sensation via vibrating motors. The pet owner can tangibly touch the pet doll, sending touch signals to the pet in a remote location. Also, the pet owner receives a visual feedback from the movement of the pet via the pet doll interface.