I have two cats and I talk to them all the time. I speak English, and they meow at me, and we pretend we understand each other.
But this device claims it can translate your pet's barks or meows into English, and your English back to barks and meows. Huh?
Scientists are creating a "bark translator" so we can actually talk to our dogs. Scientists and animal behavior experts are working on a pet translator that could be available for use in as soon as 10 years. The device will be based off of an algorithm originally designed to translate Prairie Dog vocalizations into English. Scientists found that Prairie Dogs have specific vocalizations and facial expressions that they use to communicate with each other. The same goes for basically all animals. In many cases animals have complex languages that can indicate a threat, and even warn pack members what a predator looks like. Using artificial intelligence, researchers hope machines will be able to help us decipher these complex animal languages and allow us some insight into our pets and their behavior.
Pretty amazing! I'm very interested to see if they can nail this down, or if it's just wishful thinking.