IndieGogo funded NSID's No More Woof Project aims to get Dog's talking

“Some of the most easily detected neural patterns are: 'I'm tired', 'I'm curious who that is' and 'I'm excited. To be completely honest, the first version will be quite rudimentary. But hey, the first computer was pretty crappy too”

Swedish research lab NSID (Nordic Society for Invention and Discovery) comments on their IndieGogo Page about No More Woof

Now it look like talking to Animals or at least Dogs may soon be possible. No I’m not barking up the wrong tree with this one folks; this is for real!

This bit of coming innovation for the New Year is thanks to a very innovative application of EEG (Electro-Encephalography) developed by yet another IndieGogo funded start-up, Swedish research lab NSID (Nordic Society for Invention and Discovery) called No More Woof as stated in “No More Woof reads dog brainwaves, translates to speech”, published December 18, 2013 12:00 PM PST by Amanda Kooser, CNET News.

A pledge on their IndieGogo No More Woof campaign page, which aims to bring the product to market by April 2014 is as follows:

1.      US$65 for a single sensor version of the No More Woof Device that translates three Dog Thought patterns 

2.      US$300 for a two-sensor version of the No More Woof Device that translates four or more Dog Thought patterns 

Albeit seen in the eyes of many as a joke, NSID is serious as per their IndieGogo No More Woof campaign page. And yes it’s very similar to the concept presented in the movie Up (2009) with the Talking Dog Dug as shown below.

On NSID’s IndieGogo No More Woof campaign page, they detail their aim of raising some US$10,000 to develop a custom Mind Reading device that’s basically a slimmed down EEG but specifically for Dogs as stated in “Dog-to-English Translation Headset Gets Funding”, published 24/12/2013, Mashable and “'No More Woof' headset for canines turns your dog's thoughts into spoken words”, published MONDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2013, 12:07 PM, The NY Daily News.

No More Woof Project and Interaxion’s Muse Mind Controller – Similar Concept  but different Aims

The No More Woof Project is very similar to another IndieGogo Project that launched a year ago in December 2012 by Interaxion CEO Ariel Garten call the Muse Mind Controller to allow humans to interact with Computers using their thoughts as reported in my blog article entitled “IndieGogo funded Interaxion debut US$199 Muse Mind Controller at Le Web in France - Future Silver Lining Playbook for Gaming that'll Exercise the Windmills of Your Mind”.

For those of you who don’t know the Muse Mind Controller I’m not surprised; it’s rated as a great party item to have along with Tailly the Wearable Tail in my Geezam blog article entitled “Interaxion’s Muse Mind Controller and Tailly the Wearable Tail”. It hasn’t receive serious attention from developers though, which may explain any lack of news if you Google “Muse Mind Controller”.

Effectively, it translates your Dog’s state of mind i.e. if he’s happy, if he’s sad, if he’s curious about a stranger. I say “state of mind” as still debatable whether or not animals even have thoughts like we humans do or if it’s a case that they’re just preprogrammed creatures that work on instinct, memory and inputs from their very acute physics senses.

The researchers at NSID plan to enable the No More Woof Project with more “Dog Thoughts” and thus more phrases that the device can speak to express the Gog’s state of mind. Whether or not this’ll lead to better communications between Man and Dog remains to be seen.

Human to Animal Communications is inevitable – Apple should buy NSID and Interaxion

Talking to Animals was an inevitable step that would make Mind Controller Peripherals for computers appealing. After all, we already have a myriad of innovative cutting edge ways to interact with Computers from Gestures to NL Voice Commands.

Even Fingerprint readers on smartphones are a part of the mix and may mark the rise of Biometrics and the death of password that made its debut on the Apple iPhone 5S as stated in my blog article entitled “Apple iPhone and the Sapphire plated Touch ID Fingerprint scanner - The Death of passwords and the birth of Biometrics”.

So it’s only natural that once we’ve begun talking to computers, we’d be more interested in using these talking computers to not only talk to other people who are disabled and cannot talk but to our furry four footed creatures that can’t talk at all. 

The difference here though between the Muse Mind Controller and the No More Woof Project is that it’s aimed at two (2) totally different audiences. The No More Woof Project is aimed at enable people who speak NL (Natural Languages) such as English Mandarin, French and Spanish to understand what Dogs are feeling.

This by converting the universal language of your Dog Brain’s EEG’s via attached sensors and a Raspberry Pi Microcontroller into phrases that are enunciated by a Speaker attached to the wearable head unit as shown.

Effectively, it translates your Dog’s state of mind i.e. if he’s happy, if he’s sad, if he’s curious about a stranger. I say “state of mind” as still debatable whether or not animals even have thoughts like we humans do or if it’s a case that they’re just preprogrammed creatures that work on instinct, memory and inputs from their very acute physics senses.

The researchers at NSID plan to enable the No More Woof Project with more “Dog Thoughts” and thus more phrases that the device can speak to express the Gog’s state of mind. Whether or not this’ll lead to better communications between Man and Dog remains to be seen.

Human to Animal Communications is inevitable – Apple should buy NSID and Interaxion

Talking to Animals was an inevitable step that would make Mind Controller Peripherals for computers appealing. After all, we already have a myriad of innovative cutting edge ways to interact with Computers from Gestures to NL Voice Commands.

Even Fingerprint readers on smartphones are a part of the mix and may mark the rise of Biometrics and the death of password that made its debut on the Apple iPhone 5S as stated in my blog article entitled “Apple iPhone and the Sapphire plated Touch ID Fingerprint scanner - The Death of passwords and the birth of Biometrics”.

So it’s only natural that once we’ve begun talking to computers, we’d be more interested in using these talking computers to not only talk to other people who are disabled and cannot talk but to our furry four footed creatures that can’t talk at all. 

After all, every Dog lover would love to know what his or her charge has on his mind or hot communicate with a sick, disable or even wounded animal in order to better assist them as opined in the article “The headset that can read your DOG'S MIND: Gadget claims to analyse brain waves to transform inner barks into human speech”, published 19 December 2013 17:40 GMT by SAM WEBB, UK DailyMail.

Thus Apple’s interest in the application 3D Motion Capture technology to their product line as evident from their purchase of Israeli-based company Primesense, makers of Microsoft’s Kinect Motion Controller as outlined in my blog article entitled “Apple buys Israeli-based Primesense that makes the Microsoft Kinect - Apple's Siri and Kinect Heralds of a coming world free of Remote Controls” may eventually turn to Mind Controller Technology.

Apple seems to think Motion Control is important enough to purchases Primesense. But with the very large market for Dog lovers which Amazon is tapping into via the resurrection of Pet.com as Wag.com back in July 2011 as noted in my blog article entitled “Amazon's Wag.com Social Network for Pets - Quidsi in the Flight of the Navigator”, Apple may need to jump-start their research into Mind Controllers.

The easiest way to do that is by buying Interaxion and NSID with a bid to integrate their products not into Apple gadgets but also develop a new line of products geared at communicating not only with Dogs but All Animals, Cats included. Cat and Dog lovers are bound to give this two (2) paws up, as this would finally bridge the gap between Man Machine and Animal Kind!