Our project is an interactive lawn chair for a dog and human called The Donut. The insides of this donut-shaped chair are hollow, allowing most dogs to run through in case he/she wants shade, or he/she can simply next to the human’s feet in the middle of The Donut. This chair brings dogs and humans together in an environment that is comfortable for both species.

    Average folding lawn chairs today are simple, and not dog friendly. Also, the lush grass underneath dies from a lack of sunlight. In contrast, The Donut was made to give a dog and human a sense of intimacy and companionship surrounded by the outdoors.  Due to the spaces between the layers in the bottom half of the chair, water and sunlight can seep softly and quietly into its interior.  This keeps dogs involved with the outdoors while maintaining shade under the shell of the chair.  With beautifully layered wood, and an in-built seat that blends with the rounded design of The Donut, this chair will be a beautiful piece of furniture for an outdoor space. By creating a comfortable outdoor space for both dogs and humans we help to make the bond between the two species stronger than it is already.

A fun and interactive dog treat dispenser that entertains, trains, and rewards your dog using fetching and feeding techniques.  ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

All pet owners have found themselves feeling guilty when leaving their pets home alone for hours at a time. Days spent home alone tend to result in either extreme boredom or depression and separation anxiety. Our dog treat dispenser tackles some of these issues by entertaining our loved ones in a fun and educational way. 

The dispenser is made with an eye-pleasing interactive maze to attract the attention of the dog after it inserts the ball. To activate this dispenser, the dog must insert a ball at the top of the maze and wait for it to land on a windmill type contraption that spins out treats. Not only is this treat dispenser sure to captivate our pet's attention, but also train them in ways without them even knowing. Pets who use this dispenser will need to master basic fetching and returning skills by placing the ball in the correct area to land inside the maze. Our pets will also have to practice patience when waiting for the ball and treats to dispense out of the bottom. It is time we let this new wave of pet products take over doing the things we are unable to do day to day.  

People who live in smaller spaces can find it challenging to find room for furniture for themselves and for their pets. In addition to that, there are not many pieces of furniture that are versatile enough to be used for either people or animals. The Transforming Chair is a versatile piece of furniture that provides an elegant solution to this problem by morphing between two states: a papasan chair for humans and a dog bed for dogs.

The Transforming Chair was inspired by a combination of the Hoberman Sphere and the Papasan Chair. The Hoberman Sphere is a toy ball that can expand to three times it's size and the Papasan chair is a comfortable bowl shaped chair. The Transforming chair expands and contracts using the mechanism popularized in the Hoberman’s Sphere. This  allows the chair to expand, from a small chair, for the pet, into a papasan chair, for the human. This also saves space in the homes of users, as the chair can be stored in the smaller phase.

The chair will be comprised of an outer expanding ring conntected to four expanding half rings that attach to a stationary base. When completely contracted a pillow can be placed on the contracted chair for a dog to sit on. When expanded it will be a Papasan chair for people to sit on. 

Trainer is a device that trains your dog basic commands using IBM Watson’s visual recognition API. In our studio, we decided we're changed to create a device that improves lives for dogs especially ones that are stuck all day at home. We looked at training dogs and how that can be improved and noticed that a lot of it is just repetition that can be done by a person but doesn't need to be. We decided to go with IBM’s visual tracking because it was the fastest way to get an accurate reading of the dog’s position. To actually transmit the commands we are using a speaker that has a recording of someone saying the verbal command. To reinforce the commands we wanted to dispense some sort of reward so we decided to make a dog treat dispenser we also wanted verbal encouragement so we added another recording of someone saying "good job".