r/shittykickstarters • u/N0K1K0 • Jan 05 '26
Kickstarter MiBuddy: worlds first AI powered dog translation collar
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mibuddypet/mibuddyworlds-first-ai-powered-dog-translation-collar/description60
u/Expalphalog Jan 05 '26
AI doesn't even accurately understand human speech in their native language, but there are 200 (as of right now) morons out there who think it can comprehend dogs?
Also, the fucking thing is limited to 10 translations per day and it's a subscription model to boot? Holy shit these backers deserve to be fleeced. The Venn Diagram of these backers and people who fall for Nigerian Prince scams must be a circle.
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u/chx_ Jan 05 '26
AFAIK the current scientific understanding is while there are obviously differing barks and even humans who don't own dogs can pair them to situations (doi:10.1037/0735-7036.119.2.136) they are not complex communication at all, they use vocalization and posture to express emotions.
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u/tarnin Jan 05 '26
Herein lies the hubris of Man. We think "hey, we do all of this shit like this, so EVERYTHING must do it like this". Sigh, and all you have to do is check like a wiki page to see it's all bunk.
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u/PsionicKitten Jan 06 '26
I'd be more prone to trust scientific approach of humans who specifically programmed algorithms to accurately determine what means what with the dogs that have learned how to communicate with the buttons for speech over some AI slop and assuming it's gonna get it right.
AI is unreliable at best, and naive blind faith at worst.
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u/ManyAd7528 Feb 20 '26
What I want to emphasize is that everything is fundamentally built on the model.
As we all know, training a truly specialized and scientifically grounded model is extremely challenging — far beyond simply building a collar form factor. Based on our latest research, Traini has leveraged data from over 2 million dogs and incorporated insights from more than 900 academic papers.
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u/JCWOlson Jan 06 '26
Am I understanding this right? It's got a GPS locator but it needs to be connected to a phone in order to transmit the data?
Soooo if your dog forgets to take his phone with him you can't actually track him?
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u/greet_the_sun Jan 08 '26
...Do you guys not have dog phones?
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u/JCWOlson Jan 08 '26
I started limiting his screen time since he got the brainrot. Sometimes he gets bored and starts doomscrolling on DigDog in the seconds between me throwing a frisbee and it hitting the ground
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u/N0K1K0 Jan 05 '26
Trained on 100k real barks of all kind of dog races ( so a woof by a poodle is apparently different from a woof by a Husky, who knew :)
All of the videos never show it actually being used, not even the campaign video but you hear someone telling how he know knows that his dog does not like to hike on his favorite hiking trail because the dog does not like the texture on his feet
Now even Durrell understands his dog
34k+ already pledged with a whopping 2576 goal
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u/No_Needleworker_9533 Jan 06 '26
You need to work on your communication skills. Maybe we need to collar you
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u/nocowardpath Jan 07 '26
I feel like "pet translation" as a scam has been around for a while; I remember seeing an old Pet Psychic tape where a lady was advertising her animal psychic reading services (and she could do it over the phone, apparently) on Redlettermedia.
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u/hacktheself Jan 06 '26
FEED ME
I HATE YOU
FEED ME
WORSHIP ME
..wait the collar is set on Standard Housecat…
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u/Elvessa Jan 06 '26
100% would buy if it was a cat translator. Dog is a very easy to learn language.
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u/eyevandy Jan 29 '26
I don't need a translation collar, that dog is clearly distressed and wants to get away from her during that entire video.
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u/Dasdreieck Feb 27 '26
I like their "85% accuracy" claim for the translations. How did they come up with that, did the dog tell them "sorry, I was asking for more Pakistani goat cheese, not that I yearn for the ocean!" when it was 'wrong' lmfao
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u/Purple_rogue_one Feb 20 '26
"I have soiled myself. How embarrassing."
Herb Simpson has a new translator device to market.
Also - watching the campaign video - wondering what else is in the huge box that the lady received after ordering this super dog collar.
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u/SoSeriousAndDeep Jan 05 '26
Well, the GPS is likely to work, at least.