The PetBot Launched Their Indiegogo Campaign

This week MAKO is celebrating the Indiegogo Campaign launch for our long term friends and clients Misko Dzamba and Jason Yu. The PetBot Team came to MAKO late last year with a unique product in mind to help increase the connection and deepen the relationship between pet owners and their pets. Jointly, we worked long hours to come up with a beautiful product design that is finally ready to be displayed to the public. We love working with clients to share the love and passion we have to our industry. The PetBot Team’s commitment and dedication to this project has been a truly impressive and inspirational to our team.

The PetBot was born when four dedicated University of Toronto graduates came together to develop a product that would connect them to their pets in their absence. “It’s sometimes difficult when you are forced to be away from home and wonder what your pet is up to while you’re gone. We wanted to create a two way communication system that allows pets to connect with their owners when they’re not home,” said Jason Yu.

With a diverse team of technical geniuses and business experts, The PetBot Team created a technology that is superior to current conventional pet security devices. As the first of its kind, The PetBot works interactively, allowing pets to connect with owners and vice versa, at any given time. With a beautiful design fit for any home, an embedded treat dispenser, and pet recognition sensors including a mic sensor and a camera, The PetBot enables dogs to call their owners by simply barking or standing in front of the camera. Owners are then able to either accept the call on their phone or press a button to take a pet selfie. “The PetBot is not an excuse for pet owners to spend more time away from their pets, but is designed to strengthen the relations when you have to be away,” explains Jason.

One of the challenges that were experienced by the founders when they first started working on the device was that it was difficult to snap a great pet selfie. “Sometimes the photo would be taken as the dog is turning around, which wasn’t all that great. We needed to find a way to capture the perfect moment every time,” continued Jason. With Misko’s extensive experience in machine learning and Jason’s advanced dog training skills, the team used artificial (petificial) intelligence to create a smart device that might even be considered the smart phone for pets.

While The PetBot Team is constantly working to enhance their device and bring about more cutting-edge technology, their Indiegogo Campaign is primarily for their first mass production run. With their “Super Early Bird” pledge reward already sold out, the team is hoping to release the product by as early as December, 2015.

MAKO loves that our friends at The PetBot are able to bring a brand new experience to pet owners. The PetBot is a game changer to the technologically underserved pet industry. Being able to connect with your pet at any time will surely bring a new joy to brighten up every pet owner’s day. Congratulations for your launch PetBot, we can’t wait to see this product hit the market!

Check out their Youtube video here:

About: MAKO Design + Invent is the original firm providing world-class consumer product development services tailored to startups, small manufacturers, and inventors. Simply put, we are the leading one-stop-shop for developing your physical product from idea to store shelves, all in a high-quality, cost-effective, and timely manner. We operate as one powerhouse 30-person product design team spread across 4 offices to serve you (Austin, Miami, San Francisco, & Toronto). We have full-stack in-house industrial design, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, patent referral, prototyping, and manufacturing services. To assist our startup and inventor clients, in addition to above, we help with business strategy, product strategy, marketing, and sales/distribution for all consumer product categories. Also, our founder Kevin Mako hosts The Product Startup Podcast, the industry's leading hardware podcast. Check it out for tips, interviews, and best practices for hardware startups, inventors, and product developers. Click HERE to learn more about MAKO Design + Invent!