Smart Cat Shelter Uses AI To Let Strays Inside, Keep Dogs Out (mashable.com) 122
"China's top search engine company Baidu made a smart cat shelter in Beijing that uses AI to verify when a cat is approaching and open its door," writes Slashdot reader AmiMoJo. "The cat shelter is heated and also offers cats food and water." Mashable reports: It can accurately identify 174 different cat breeds, as to let them enter and exit as they please. A door will slide open if the camera spots a cat, but it won't work on dogs. Multiple cats can fit inside the space. Another neat camera feature is that it can be also used to detect if the cat is sick -- it can identify four common cat diseases, such as inflammation, skin problems, and physical trauma. Once a cat is identified as needing care, associated volunteers can be informed to come and collect it. "Homeless cats often struggle to survive the winter in Beijing, and even though volunteers feed them their water bowls freeze over in the cold," adds AmiMoJo. "Due to many people living in apartments that don't allow pets, they can't simply bring the cats home."
Baidu has a blog post detailing the shelter and its use of artificial intelligence.
Baidu has a blog post detailing the shelter and its use of artificial intelligence.
Re: (Score:2)
Wish I had mod points for this. Shame you went AC on it...
Re: Cruel (Score:2)
Maybe the dogs are better off.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
You're assuming that the real purpose of this isn't to collect cats... for dinner.
Maybe the dogs are better off.
The breed recognition is so that they can find the cats with the most valuable fur. All those cute little fluffy toy rabbits and whatnot from China are made with cat fur. Then you feed the meat to the dogs... and eat them.
For the record, I could give a shit but don't. [Not] eating dogs is a cultural value, there's no real moral difference between eating dogs, horses, cows, sheep, pigs, etc. They're all individuals with hopes, dreams, fears, etc. And they're all delicious when properly cooked.
Re: (Score:1)
Yeah I'm sure toys are made with real hides in 2019. SMH.
Re: (Score:2)
Yep, and they can keep those values in Asia. If it comes over here you'll see a bit of pushback, as in maybe you eat my dog, maybe I turn you into a lampshade.
They have their own dogs, they don't need to eat your dog.
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
Probably for the safety of the dogs as well. When cats and dogs exist in the same space, cats are usually the dominant ones.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
That's nice for a cat confronted with a friendly well-fed house dog. They're talking strays though. And stray dogs are predator/scavengers. A cat has a good fighting chance against a dog that wants to play. Not so much against a dog that wants to eat it. In that case it's primary defense is using its speed and agility to escape - if a hungry dog manages to close its jaws on a cat just once, that's probably the end of the cat. That cute head-shaking attack your dog does on its toys? That's an efficient
I guess we need it for people (Score:1)
After all homeless people also have to endure winter, right?
Re: (Score:1)
Found it: https://lmb.informatik.uni-fre... [uni-freiburg.de]
Which mentions an even older project from around 2008: https://web.archive.org/web/20... [archive.org]
Those two are a little bit more limited in scope, in that they detect things in the cat's mouth rather than trying to determine if it's a cat or not and if the cat is healthy or in need of attention, but damn impressive for the time.
I wish someone would commercialize that tech. Mine brings all sorts of stuff home - mice, live birds, fish...
Spay and neuter (Score:5, Insightful)
This is why you spay and neuter dogs and cats (among other reasons). Unfortunately, cultural reasons in many countries prevent this from happening, along with ignorance.
Of course if the smartest animal on the planet wouldn't simply toss dogs and cats, and puppies and kittens, into the wild because it didn't want to care for them, this wouldn't be an issue.
Re: (Score:1, Insightful)
Do not pretend that culture is separate and apart from ignorance. There are cultures that are founded upon ignorance, for example Islamic culture which treats women like property. That's not due to "culture along with ignorance," it is a "culture of ignorance."
I do a lot of animal rescue work in the south and let me tell you a little more about the culture of ignorance. The #1 reason people don't spay or neuter pets in the south is because of the culture of ignorance and the anthropomorphism of animals. I c
Re: (Score:1)
And it's not limited to the South - just look at how many Americans still believe in trickle-down economics, despite several decades of counter-evidence.
As for your rednecks - even a stopped clock is right twice a day. There's really not much point in neutering males unless you want to limit that individuals aggression or marking. You'll never manage to neuter 100% of the strays, and males are not the limiting factor on reproduction. So long as there's even one fertile male in an area, most of the fertile
Re:Spay and neuter (Score:4, Insightful)
Don't be so exclusive, Christianity and Judaism are just as good at being based on ignorance and misogyny.
Re: (Score:1)
OH hell, I see more absurd anthropomorphism by people here in California regarding their pets.
They're "fur babies", they're family members, they put clothes on them, I"m surprised some idiot isn't arguing against them getting their shots for fear it will give them dog autism.
Re: (Score:3)
Of course if the smartest animal on the planet wouldn't simply toss dogs and cats, and puppies and kittens, into the wild because it didn't want to care for them, this wouldn't be an issue.
For the record, I've never seen mice toss dogs/cats/puppies/kittens into the wild - for any reason.
Re: (Score:2)
Ever heard about rats and mice?
(* facepalm *)
Re: (Score:2)
>"This is why you spay and neuter "
No, it is why you "neuter". Spay is female. Castrate is male. Neuter is either male nor female. Yes, pedantic, but it one of those bad phrases that drives me crazy. It has been misused so horribly for so many years, it has become common now.
Saying "spay and neuter" is equivalent to saying "remove sex organs from female and remove sex organs from female and male". So either say "neuter animals" or say "spay or castrate animals."
Yes, most pets and all strays need to
Re: (Score:2)
Haven't your heard about the new 74HC00? It has built-in AI!
Speciesist snobs (Score:1, Funny)
Let the dogs in!
Re: (Score:2)
If we can't do it with humans because of civilization, at least let Darwin be right when it comes to animals.
"Smart Cat Shelter" (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Too many damn cats (Score:2, Interesting)
Chinese cities have too many cats. It means there are hardly any birds, lizards, etc. They should be killing off strays rather than keeping them alive.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
A slightly more humane option is to fix them so they can't reproduce.
Many people there keep cats to deal with rodents, but don't look after them properly and abandon them when they get pregnant or too old, so forcing them to get their cats neutered would be a good start. Aside from anything else it would extend the cat's working life considerably.
Re: (Score:3)
Around where I live, I've done a TNR initiative which has worked well. Live trap the cats, get them spayed/neutered and checked out for medical conditions by a vet, then release them back. This has kept the stray cat population stable, especially when a cat with FIV or another disease is removed and can't infect other animals.
Re: (Score:2)
>'Live trap the cats, get them spayed/neutered"
Get them spayed/castrated OR get them neutered. Spay is female, castrate is male. Neuter is either/both.
Otherwise, agreed.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Also probably hardly any mice. With a population density that high the public health benefits from severely limiting the rodent population probably outweigh any benefit from having more lizards and birds.
Re: (Score:2)
Lizards eat insects. So they are important. ..
However the GPs idea that cats kill to many lizards is nonsense. While cats have impressive wall climbing skills, Lizards are better.
And the idea that cats hunt everything that moves is nonsense anyway
Re: (Score:2)
What are the health hazards of insects typically on a lizard's diet? For most problem insects (termites, roaches, silverfish, bed-bugs, fleas, lice, etc.) house centipedes are about the best predator you can hope for, and completely harmless to humans.
>and the idea that cats hunt everything that moves is nonsense anyway ..
Having had cats all my life I must agree. They only hunt anything substantially smaller than them, that they haven't learned will bite back or taste vile. And that's house cats that
Re: (Score:2)
They only hunt anything substantially smaller than them
Actually no. My cats in Thailand only hunt rats, mice and unfortunately lizards/geckos.
They leave chickens and other birds alone (with chickens I mean small ones in this case), never saw them hunting a bid. But the birds usually are out in pairs or small swarms and one or a few keep watch while the others are on the ground.
And that's house cats that are driven only by instinct, :D it looks more like if thy had a contract with us
It does not look like it
Re: (Score:2)
I have rarely seen a cat that doesn't stalk small birds - not all of them can actually catch them, but they'll certainly try. Small being the active word - they tend to learn quickly that a bird the size of a rat is actually a formidable opponent.
I seriously doubt there's any "contract" established - small animals are food, if we don't feed them that's their only option for survival. And if we do feed them, the hunting instincts don't go away.
It is possible though that actually being raised around chicken
Re: (Score:2)
Well, I was thinking to write a book about the cat.
You miss read: she has a contract. if we feed her, then she hunts rats. If we don't fee her she goes outside searching for food. And she does not eat anything she kills, she has not even the dignity to bring the catch, she lets it rot where she kills it. I have no idea how she came to that idea of "contract", she does the exact same thing in the next house. She eats a bit, if she likes the food, she starts hunting. If she does not like it, she goes elsewher
Re: (Score:2)
Ah, I understand you. That's quite interesting behavior. Is this a contract she volunteered, or something you negotiated?
Leaving the kills is odd. But I guess, what's she going to do with them if she prefers home-cooked meals? It sounds like she probably doesn't really regard you as part of her colony yet, and seems to have a firm idea of how she earns her keep. It sounds like this is a cat that was already an adult when it found you? Perhaps someone in her past managed to communicate that such gifts w
Re: (Score:2)
Is this a contract she volunteered, or something you negotiated?
It is more like she enforces it on us.
It sounds like this is a cat that was already an adult when it found you?
Yes. We assume one once captured her to kill (eat/skin) her and she escaped.
She likes to stay around, and sits sometimes demanding at her bowl to get some food.
But because she is scared, she often sits there out of sight, behind the corner of the door etc.
But if we eat as 5 or 6, she comes ... walks around us in about 2m distance. Take
Re: (Score:2)
That does sound like she's got a clear idea of what your relationship should be, at least for now. Cats can certainly be extremely complex individuals.
Re: (Score:1)
They have canine privilege and are collectively responsible for stray cats being homeless. Dogs have oppressed cats all throughout history and even today they subconsciously collude to keep cats down.
Re: (Score:2)
Ok, who let the feline justice warrior in?
The Chinese gets it (Score:1)
Cats >gt; dogs. ... or they just view one as a pet they need to take care of and the other one as dinner.
Soooo... (Score:3)
Re: (Score:1)
Doing it the hard way (Score:4, Interesting)
Wouldn't a small door do the trick?
Re: (Score:2)
I know a few cats. Trust me. THEY would keep the roving bands of chihuahuas out.
Re: (Score:2)
Many cats are as big as or larger than small dogs. They like small dogs in China.
Re: (Score:1)
Many cats are as big as or larger than small dogs. They like small dogs in China.
They taste like cats?
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, they're crunchy and go great with sweet-sour sauce.
Re: (Score:2)
My ex GF in Paris had a very smart and very interesting cat.
She had a labrador living in the same house as a friend.
Very small dogs, sorry, I don't know the english names, definitely about half her size, triggered her love to hunt.
When I was walking with my GF around for restaurants etc. when we saw a dog like that we called it: cat fodder.
Darwin box (Score:1)
Chiwawas will evolve to say "meow".
cats and dogs (Score:1, Redundant)
What about the K9 contingent? (Score:1)
While 25,000 Remain Homeless in Siicon Vally (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
It's only a short step from a cat shelter to a Miao shelter (see what i did there?), and from there to Uyghyr, Kazakh and Tibetan shelters. Pretty sure they already run them for Uyghurs. Problem is, the doors don't let them out.
Organize a caravan (Score:3)
China sorter? (Score:2)
The next stage is installing these outside of restraints to sort for cat, dog, squirrel, etc.....
NO DOGS ALLOWED (Score:2)
Slashdot featured a guy doing this back in 2002 (Score:2)
Archive.org link to original TFA [archive.org] since the hosting site has
Eat Them? (Score:2)
I thought that they would be eaten...? [foxnews.com] Do they need to be automatically screened for disease for this to be economically viable?
Cats can fend for themselves (Score:2)
A dog is no match for a cat in a fight. When a cat wants a space, you don't need a "smart" door to keep dogs out, the cat will do the job all on its own! Each dog needs to learn the lesson only once.