Haven't we all wished that our beloved pets talk to us? Our dream might come true in ten years as researchers are working on using artificial intelligence to translate barks of dogs or mews of cats into English.
A Northern Arizona University Professor Con Slobodchikoff is developing a new technology to interpret noises of a type of ground squirrel called prairie dog and says it could be used to interpret other animals' calls.
These herbivorous burrowing rodents a have a unique way of communicating with each other, especially alerting other members of a threat. These animals make a loud alarm call that sounds like a dog's bark whenever they spot an enemy like coyotes, bobcats, badgers, eagles, and falcons. They are so sophisticated that they even convey minute details about the threat.
Prof Slobodchikoff, who has been studying the animals for more than 30 years, thinks this is a milestone stone itself and they soon will be able to understand what dogs and cats are trying to say.
This device, if made available to pet parents, will surely reward them with heart-warming moments as they will be able to finally understand what their furry friends are trying to convey by wagging their tail or by purring loudly.
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William Higham, a researcher for the internet shopping behemoth Amazon, said that this device might now be available within a decade and with so many pet lovers across the globe, there will be a huge market for the product.
What is more awesome is that Prof Slobodchikoff said the device can be tweaked by owners to reply back to their pets.
Being able to understand what your pets want to say will not only help to train them better but also enable owners to treat ailments more promptly. Your dog might be able to say where is it hurting or why is it feeling uncomfortable.
Moreover, the professor also believes with this technology, we might be able to help those that are badly behaved or aggressive.
However, this is not the pioneering technology working towards understanding animals better. Last year, researchers came with a technology which is able to say if a sheep was happy or sad by detecting its face. This technology is expected to help farmers pinpoint which sheep is sick.
