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This smart feeding station uses face recognition and scales to stop your cat getting fat

Trim Mr Tibbles down to size and banish his waddle for good

Esat Dedezade

A blender for cats? Surely PETA will have something to say about this…
Heavens no. This is about as far away from a cat blender as you can get, thankfully.

This is the Bistro – an all-in-one feeding and monitoring station for your beloved feline companions.

A what now?
It’s a cat feeder, and a smart one at that. It’s designed to let you monitor your cat’s eating and drinking habits via an accompanying app.

Load sensors beneath the feeding tray and water reservoir determine how much has been consumed, and the large platform has built-in scales to measure your cat’s weight.

Over time, Bistro will dispense more or less food, to make sure your cat doesn’t end up looking like a stuffed furry pillow on legs.

This smart feeding station uses facial recognition technology and scales to stop

Excellent stuff. But I have two cats, and I’m not paying for two feeders.
That’s where the clever facial recognition technology comes in. It’s specifically designed for feline faces, and each cat has its own profile.

When a particular cat steps up to the plate, Bistro recognises it and dispenses food accordingly.

This smart feeding station uses facial recognition technology and scales to stop

That’s all very well, but what if one cat steals the other’s food?
A very good point. The best you can do is limit the amount of food dispensed, but even then, if you’ve got a determined greedy cat, there’s not much you can do.

Still, the Bistro has a camera which lets you watch your cats munch away, so if you do see a renegade kitty stealing its sibling’s lunch, you can scold it when you get back. Not that that’ll do much good.

This smart feeding station uses facial recognition technology and scales to stop

This is a smart feeder, so I’m guessing its social too?
Bingo. You can share your cat’s life with other c̶r̶a̶z̶y̶ cat people online, and can even see reviews and ratings for different types of cat food from other owners. It’s like Facebook, but furrier.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wiy8DRIuh9U

Mr Tibbles deserves the best. I’m in.
He’ll be delighted. You can grab a Bistro for a special discounted proce from indiegogo, where it’ll set you back US$150, with an extra US$40 shipping if you’re outside the US or Taiwan. Now if only he’d stop bringing back dead birds…

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About

Esat has been a gadget fan ever since his tiny four-year-old brain was captivated by a sound-activated dancing sunflower. From there it was a natural progression to a Sega Mega Drive, a brief obsession with hedgehogs, and a love for all things tech. After 7 years as a writer and deputy editor for Stuff, Esat ventured out into the corporate world, spending three years as Editor of Microsoft's European News Centre. Now a freelance writer, his appetite for shiny gadgets has no bounds. Oh, and like all good human beings, he's very fond of cats.