cats

Robots

Kitty Cat Hitches Ride on Back of a Roomba

Posted by Elaine Chow at 12:50 PM on November 19, 2008

If there's anything that makes me squeal like a little girl on a pixie stick high, it's watching videos of pets playing with gadgets. This little kitty uses the family Roomba as its own amusement park ride, presumably vacuuming up the mess it sheds everyday on the side. I'm not sure how they managed to get it so close to something so noisy--my own cat freaks out every time the doorbell rings. [Neatorama]

Gadgets

Motion Detector Turns on Blender, Strobe Light When Cat Nears with Hilarious Results

Posted by Adam Frucci at 10:45 AM on October 17, 2008

Do you have a cat who loves to jump on your kitchen counter and eat your plant? If so, you have a couple of solutions. You could do something mild, like putting double-sided tape on the counters to deter it. Or, if you're more adventurous, you could set up a motion detector that's set to turn on a strobe light and a blender when your cat makes the jump, scaring the crap out of it until it learns its lesson. Guess which one we have videos of after the jump?


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Gadgets

Vibrating Pet Glove Invites Jokes Involving a Certain Synonym for 'Cat'

Posted by Adam Frucci at 4:45 AM on October 11, 2008

Apparently, your cat enjoys it when a soft, vibrating material is rubbed against it. That's why this vibrating pet glove exists. When your cat feels lonely and just needs a tender touch, slip on the vibrating pet glove and give it the massage it so desires. It even wipes clean with a damp cloth if your cat is wet or dirty. It uses 3 AAA batteries, and it totally doesn't look like a vibrator, so you can just leave it sitting out and not worry about your mum popping over to visit and making your feel uncomfortable. I mean it, uh, doesn't look like a regular pet brush. [Product Page via Book of Joe]


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Vehicles

Cat Motorcycle is, Well, an Interesting Idea, I Guess

Posted by Adam Frucci at 3:00 AM on October 3, 2008

Most of the time, riding a motorcycle makes you look awesome. The exception to this rule? Riding around on the CAT 1 Über-bike, a motorcycle designed by Lee J. Rowland that has you riding around on the back of a gigantic fiberglass jaguar. I'm sure it's an amazing bike, what with its 1200cc Buell 97 S3 Thunderbolt engine and custom air intakes and exhaust system, but come on: you'd look like a total jackass on this thing. And for $US567,000 (!!), I'd better look like James f'ing Dean when I hit the road. [Lee J. Rowland via Book of Joe]


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Gadgets

Automated Litter Box Powered by Mac Mini

Posted by Mark Wilson at 5:40 AM on September 17, 2008

You might call it overkill, but one modder decided to do a little work to his stock litter box. He equipped it with a ventilation system that's triggered by a motion detector. Five minutes after the cat uses the facilities, the fan kicks on for fifteen minutes (as prompted by the Mac Mini home automation system that the litter box is connected to). The result? Less cat smell, but his guests still talk about his strange cat obsession on the way home from the party. [Treehugger Forums via BBGadgets]

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Random Stuff

Cat KO's Printer In Vicious Boxing Match

Posted by Sean Fallon at 3:00 AM on September 12, 2008

Cats have an odd relationship with gadgets. Some cats tremble in fear while others have no problem resorting to violence. The cat in the video above falls neatly into the latter category. Sure, the internet is filled with videos of cats bitchslapping technology—but this one really lays the hammer down on that printer. A vicious flurry of rights at the end combined with enhanced sound effects make for a truly epic pummeling. It is not for the squeamish that's for sure. [soupsoup via Gearfuse]


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Design

'Staring' Sculpture Depicts Laser Cats In Duel to Death by Exploding Head

Posted by Wilson Rothman at 8:40 AM on September 11, 2008

I'm no curator, but these two air-dry clay cat sculptures, merged by mere fluorescent tubing and wired up to glow like the heavens, make me want to start a museum entirely filled with sci-fi animals locked in deadly combat.


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Home

Automatic Cat Faucet is One DIY Hack That Felines Will Love

Posted by Gizmodo US Edition at 4:30 AM on July 13, 2008

Luckily, my cat was always too dumb to make the connection between the faucet and fresh water, so she's made do thus far with just sipping from her water dish. But I've heard that once kitties taste from the tap, they never want to go back. For running water addicted cats, MAKE contributor tsruzik has constructed a pretty ingenious automatic cat faucet using an IR sensor and some tubing.


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Random Stuff

Cat Vs. Washing Machine (My Poor Cat Part II)

Posted by Mark Wilson at 5:20 AM on June 26, 2008

A while back, my luddite cat had a run-in with an R/C dragonfly. It left her jaded and frightened of the device, so much that we topped our Christmas tree with it to keep her ornament attacking at bay. It was remarkably effective. Since then we've relocated to an apartment and she has a new nemesis...the washing machine.


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Robots

R/C Tortoise Crawls, Meanders, Barely Interests Cat

Posted by Gizmodo US Edition at 5:00 AM on June 23, 2008

The robot tinkerers over at Crabfu have made a remote-controlled tortoise that ambles around using 4 sub-micro servos controlled by a 4 channel radio system. Each leg is tied to an independent channel and axis, which means the robot moves through some serious thumb twiddling action. Besides proving that it could move forwards and backwards and all around, Crabfu also put the mechanical hero in a half shell through the rigid "Does it annoy the cat?" test. Unfortunately, it seems like this green machine has nothing on its real life counterpart:


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