Smart Pet Door Uses Facial Recognition to Keep Strange Animals Out

Face ID is out. Whisker recognition is in.

Open Says Me

A smart pet door that claims to recognize your pets — and only your pets — just closed its Kickstarter campaign and is headed to production.

Most pet doors are basically just small holes cut into the bottom of a regular door with a plastic flap covering. The problem is that flap offers equal opportunity for wildlife, stray animals and other people's pets to wander in your home and create all kinds of chaos. Petvation, though, says its smart door uses facial recognition software and machine learning to automatically slide upwards when your pet is spotted and then close behind them.

Petvation claims its new door is so smart that pet lovers can keep dogs out and let cats in, or vice versa. It even warns you via a connected app if unwanted critters like skunks attempt a break-in, and it can also tell you if your pets brought unwelcome friends — like all those mice your cat keeps trying to get you to eat.

Fur Babies

Basically every pet door has a downside, but Petvation says they've thought ahead. The product includes a motor with a locking mechanism and an anti-pinch sensor so the door doesn't accidentally close on little paws or tails.

There's almost no way Petvation has thought of everything that could go wrong, but pet facial recognition is so cool it convinced people to give about $80,000 more than the company's initial Kickstarter goal of $10,000.

At the very least, it's obvious pet lovers are craving smarter solutions for their fur babies.

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