The Internet of Things: Connected animals

The Internet of Things has the potential to connect us all. Sensors, trackers and monitors collect data for us to work more efficiently.

Here we look at innovations in the animal world.

Fitbark enables you to monitor your dog’s progress and activity. You can compare activity with standards for the breed to see if your dog is as healthy as it could be.

Get information from the smartphone app to see how much interaction the dog is getting, how much sleep it has and how much activity it has done.

This device monitors health and fertility for cows. Cows come into heat for about eight hours. Missing this window means a potential loss of revenue for the farmer.

Data can be monitored on mobile devices ensuring that milk production does not fall and insemination costs are optimised.

The Horse Alarm sensor monitors sweating and when the horse is lying down. This gives an indication that the mare is foaling, or the horse is not well. Alarms can be set to suit your horse.

Connection to GSM means that alarms can be received remotely via text to your phone.

The Tagg monitors your animal’s location and alerts you if the animal is not where it is supposed to be. It monitors pet exercise levels.

A temperature sensor alerts the app if the animal is either too hot or cold. The iOS or Android app also searches for nearby vets, dog parks and pet stores.

Cisco has announced that is it building a consortium to help protect endangered elephants using the Internet of Things.

Cisco intends to connect the elephants to the internet, collect sensory information to indicate if they have been shot, and enabe the anti poaching team to get there more quickly.

Big data will also be able to predict where the animals will go next and prevent further poaching.

Whistle is an activity monitor for dogs that sends information to an app on your smartphone. You can check what your dog is doing, get real time alerts and watch your dog’s activity patterns.

You can receive updates from the person looking after the dog and see activity and rest patterns.

Silent Herdsman follows a cows activity during the day. When a cow passes a Wi-Fi point, real time information is relayed to the farmer to notify him of changes in behaviour and health. This maximises fertility and milk yield.

Voyce allows you to share health and other trends with your network of carers and your veterinarian.

The app helps you support proactive care for your dog between vet visits.

The collar monitors vital signs including resting heart rate and respiratory rate, along with other indicators such as activity, rest and calories burned. You can check how your dog is doing through your browser.

GeoDog enables you to track your dog’s position using an iOS app on your phone. You can remotely hear what your dog can hear and give sound signals to the dog. You can set up zones and be alerted when your dog moves out of those zones or enters a non permitted zone.

Wuf is an activity tracking device with two way audio, voice and tone commands for your dog. It provides an invisible fence with preset alarms. It uses Bluetooth to communicate with the iOS app so you can see whether your dog is sitting, sleeping, walking, running or playing.

The device understands your dogs activity and movements and build up a full picture of the dog’s lifestyle. Wuf is currently on Kickstarter and needs $19,000 to reach its goal.