His Master's VoIP: Connected dog collar keeps you in touch with your pet
Not content to just track your pet? The Motorola Scout 5000 will not only show you live video of their antics, you'll even be able to talk to your dog in real time.
LAS VEGAS -- Want more from a pet tracker than just a GPS location? The Motorola Scout 5000 from Binatone doesn't just tell you where your pet is -- it'll show you a live video stream and even let you talk to your roaming loved one.
The sizeable collar-mounted device incorporates a GPS tracker, Wi-Fi connectivity and a wide-angle camera capable of taking 720p video. It's definitely built for larger dogs, and we wouldn't even know how to begin strapping it to a cat.
There's a suite of features similar to other products in this growing category, such as GPS tracking and geo-fencing, with alerts delivered via app directly to your smartphone.
But the Scout 5000 has some other features we haven't seen elsewhere. The device can stream a 720p live video to your phone, so you see what's actually happening to your pooch. Even better, you can speak back to your pup via the collar, issuing commands or offering a soothing voice for agitated pets.
If you're the owner of a slightly naughty dog, you could use the bark detection and notification to let you know when someone's being a bit loud in the back yard, then shout "bad dog" into your phone like a... slightly weird person.
This is all done thanks to Hubble. Hubble is an "Internet of Things (IoT) Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS)", which basically means it can handle voice over IP (VoIP), video streaming and cloud recording. Hubble even has a global partnership with Vodafone and can offer "full global cellular connectivity with no recurring charges to end users".
The Scout 5000 joins a number of pet products produced by Binatone under the Motorola brand including the Scout 66 -- a Wi-Fi pet monitor camera that also uses the Hubble service.
The Scout 5000 will be available this June and will retail for $200 in the US, with other regional releases yet to be determined. That price converts to roughly £130 or AU$245.